The  S^orr  of 
OUR  ENGLK 

GRANDFATHERS 


GEO.  P.  BROWN 


MA 

SAXOI 

CE 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF 

Mrs .  Earle  Brown 


€^ 


NORTH 

6  E   A 


Wm 


The  Story  of  Our 
English  Grandfathers 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE 
HISTORY  OF  OUR  NATION 


George  P.  Brown 

Author  of  "The  Elements  of  English  Grammar,"  etc. 


PUBLIC-SCHOOL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
BLO-Mit«3TON,  Illinois 


Copyright  1903 
GEORGE  P.  BROWN 
Bloomington,  Illinois 


Education 


GIFT 


B75 


PREFACE 


This  little  book  is  intended  to  furnish  a  back- 
ground for  the  study  of  the  History  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  an  epitome  of  the  history  of  the 
development  of  political  and  industiial  freedom 
in  England,  from  the  invasion  of  Julius  Caesar 
to  the  death  of  Queen  Victoria. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  book  the  author  has 
tried  to  use  language  familiar  to  pupils  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  Course  of  Study  in  our  Ele- 
mentary Schools.  There  is  considerable  repeti- 
tion of  things  presented  in  previous  chapters, 
and  sometimes  there  is  mention  made  of  matters 
to  be  more  fully  treated  in  subsequent  chapters, 
for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  pupil  to  look  both 
forward  and  backward,  and  so  to  prevent  him 
from  losing  his  way  among  the  numerous  per- 
sons and  events  in  the  panorama  which  his  im- 
agination constructs. 

There  are  three  distinct  uses  that  can  be  made 
of  the  book: 

3 

76S 


4  Preface 

1.  It  can  be  read,  under  the  leadership  and 
by  the  help  of  the  suggestions  and  questions  of 
the  teacher,  by  pupils  in  the  seventh  year  of  the 
Elementary  Course  of  Study. 

2.  It  can  be  used  as  a  text-book  in  the  first 
half  year  of  the  eighth  grade  preparatory  to  the 
completion  of  the  History  of  the  United  States, 
studied  in  the  grades  below. 

3.  The  author  believes  it  can  be  made  a  val- 
uable study  of  the  History  of  England  in  the 
High  School,  by  giving  a  sort  of  bird^s-eye  view 
of  the  entire  movement  preparatory  to  a  fuller 
treatment  of  causes  and  details  necessarily  omit- 
ted from  this  volume.  This  involves  going  over 
the  ground  twice  as  is  now  done,  but  it  gives  the 
outline  view  before  the  more  exhaustive  study 
of  the  subject. 

It  would  take  too  much  space  to  make  due 
acknowledgments  to  the  authors  of  the  many 
histories  that  have  been  consulted  in  the  pre- 
paration of  this  little  volume.  The  illustra- 
tions are  not  numerous  but  effort  has  been 
made  to  have  them  authentic  where  authentic 
pictures  were  attainable. 


CONTENTS, 


PAGE. 

Introduction 5 

The  Roman  and  the  Saxon  Invasions, 
55  -B.  C.-1066  a.  D. 

I.     The  Romans  and  the  Britons,  55  b.  C.-449  a.  d.   .  11 

II.     The  Saxon  Invasion,  449-830 25 

III.  King  Alfred  and  the  Danes,  830-1066          .      .  34 

IV.  The  Early  Government  of  England    ....  54 

The  Norman  Kings,  1066—1154. 

V.     William  the  Conqueror,  1066-1087     ....  60 

VI.     What  was  Feudalism,  1000-1450 74 

VII.     How  the  Common  People  Lived 82 

The  Plantagenet  Kings,  1154-1485. 

Vni.     Henry  II.,  1154-1189 88 

IX.     Indoor  Life  of  the  Barons 101 

X.     Richard  L,  1189-1199 107 

XL     How  the  People  Lived 116 

XII.     King  John  and  the  Great  Charter,  1199-1216     .  123 

XIII.     City  Schools  and  Sports 138 

XIV.     A  Short  Story  of  a  Long  Period,  1216-1485     .      .  141 
5 


6  Contents 

'  The  Tudor  Kings,  1485-1603. 

XV.  Henry  VII.,  1485-1509 153 

XVI.  How  Industries  Grew 166 

XVII.  Martin  Luther,  1483-1546 172 

XVIII.  Henry  VIIL,  1509-1547      .      .     ' 180 

XIX.  How  the  People  Lived 196 

XX.  Edward  and  Mary,  1547-1558 201 

XXL  Elizabeth,  1558-1603 212 

XXII.  Who  were  the  Puritans 239 

The  Stuart  Kings,  1603-1688. 

XXIII.  James  L,  1603-1625 245 

XXIV.  Virginia 258 

XXV.  Charles  I.,  1625-1640     ........  264 

XXVL  New  England 279 

XXVIL  Oliver  Cromwell,  1599-1658 285 

XXVIIL  Charles  IL,  James  IL,  1660-1688       ....  301 

XXIX.  New  York 314 

XXX.  Pennsylvania 317 

XXXL  William  III.,  1689-1702 320 

The  Hanoverian  Kings,  1714. 

XXXII.  A  Short  Story  of  Three  Reigns,  1702-1760     .      .  331 

XXXIII.  George  III.,  1760-1820       .      ......  340 

XXXIV.  The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament     ...  352 
XXXV.  Discoveries  and  Inventions 365 

XXXVL  Queen  Victoria,  1837-1901 373 


THE  STORY  OF  OUR  ENGLISH 
*    GRANDFATHERS, 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  white  people  who  first  came  to  this  coun- 
try were  Europeans.  Those  who  settled  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  from  Maine  to  Florida,  were 
Englishmen.  The  ancestors  of  the  English  were 
those  Germans  who  lived  north  of  the  Elbe  river 
in  Germany,  and  near  to  the  coast  of  the  North 
Sea.  If  we  call  the  early  English  people  our 
grandfathers,  we  must  claim  those  early  German 
people  as  our  great-grandfathers.  From  this 
it  is  evident  that  the  Americans,  the  English, 
and  the  Germans  are  all  members  of  one  great 
family,  or  race.  This  is  known  as  the  Ger- 
manic family.  In  history  it  is  called  the  Teu- 
tonic race. 

Many  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  Ireland, 
Wales,  and  Scotland  have  ancestors  of  another 
race,  called  the  Britons,  who  lived  in  England 
when  our  great-grandfathers,  the  Germans,  first 
came  into  the  island.  They  are  known  in  history 
as  the  Celtic  race.  Indeed,  very  many  English- 
men have  Celtic  as  well  as  German  ancestors. 
So  it  appears  that  all  the  people  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  are  closely  related  by  blood  to  one 


8  Introduction 

another  and  to  the  Americans.  We  shall  see 
later  that  the  Celtic  blood  that  has  commingled 
with  the  Germanic  has  helped  to  cause  a  marked 
difference  between  the  English  and  the  Ameri- 
can people  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  present 
German  people  of  Europe,  on  the  other.  But 
in  all  essential  particulars  the  three  nations  are 
one  great  family,  and  ought  to  live  in  peace 
and  friendship  with  each  other,  as  is  most  be- 
coming to  a  family. 

The  early  settlers  in  the  United  States  were 
Englishmen.  When  they  became  a  separate 
natidn  they  framed  a  plan  of  government  which 
is  called  our  Constitution,  and  which  is  the  most 
fundamental  and  binding  of  all  our  laws,  be- 
cause it  states  what  are  the  commanding  rights 
of  the  people,  and  how  the  government  must  be 
carried  on  to  protect  these  rights.  While  this 
constitution  differs  in  some  respects  from  the 
constitution  of  England,  yet  the  rights  of  the 
people  are  practically  the  same  in  both  nations. 
So  true  is  this  that  the  Constitutional  Law  of 
England,  called  the  "Common  Law,'^  is  the  law 
in  every  state  of  our  union,  provided  the  state 
legislature  has  not  enacted  a  law  that  super- 
sedes it. 

This  is  the  same  as  declaring  that  what  our 
English  Grandfathers  had  long  ago  agreed  upon 
as  right  and  just  both  in  government  and  in 


Introdxiction  9 

business  shall  be  the  law  that  must  govern  us 
when  we  have  no  law  of  our  own  bearing  upon 
the  matter  in  dispute. 

So  it  appears  that  if  an  American  would  know 
the  early  history  of  his  own  customs  and  laws 
he  must  know  the  early  history  of  the  English 
people. 

This  book  is  a  brief  history  of  those  customs 
and  events  in  the  lives  of  our  English  Grand- 
fathers which  it  concerns  us  all  to  know,  and 
which  the  young  people  of  America  need  to 
learn  if  they  would  fully  understand  the  History 
of  the  United  States. 

Tacitus,  one  of  the  greatest  of  Roman  his- 
torians, wrote  as  follows  of  our  German  great- 
grandfathers:  ^^A  fine,  unmixed,  and  independ- 
ent race,  unlike  any  other  people  .  .  .  with 
stern  blue  eyes,  ruddy  hair,  of  large  and  robust 
frames,  but  with  a  strength  which  only  appears 
when  roused  to  sudden  effort.  They  will  be 
the  slaves  of  no  man ;  they  respect  their  women, 
and  hold  them  in  love  and  honor.  They  con- 
sider no  disgrace  equal  to  that  which  is  the 
sure  reward  of  a  man  who  shows  himself,  a 
coward  in  battle.  Fierce  and  cruel  ip  war, 
they  are  content,  when  the  war  is  over,  to  lay 
aside  the  sword  and  spear,  and  to  plough  their 
fields  and  to  cultivate  their  lands  in  peace  and 
quiet?' 


THE  ROMAN  AND  THE  SAXON 
INVASIONS. 


55  B.C.—  1066  A.  D. 


I. 

THE  ROMANS  AND  THE  BRITONS. 

55  B.C.— 449  A.  D. 

Twenty  centuries  ago  all  the  western  world 
was  ruled  by  the  Romans.  Rome,  the  wealth- 
iest and  most  beautiful  city  in  the  world,  wcs 
the  capital  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Julius  Caesar, 
a  great  Roman  general  and  one  of  the  greatest 
of  statesmen,  had  conquered  the  Gauls  (who 
then  lived  in  France)  and  had  brought  them 
under  the  rule  of  the  empire.  (60  B.  C.)  The 
Gauls  and  the  Britons  who  lived  in  England  be- 
longed to  the  same  family,  and  while  the  war 
against  the  Gauls  was  going  on,  the  Britons  had 
sent  soldiers  across  the  channel  to  aid  their 
friends.  Caesar  had  found  it  harder  to  subdue 
that  portion  of  Gaul  near  to  the  English  channel 
because  of  the  assistance  given  to  the  enemy  by 
the  Britons.  After  the  Gauls  had  been  con- 
quered, Caesar  determined  to  punish  the  Britons 

n 


12  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

for  their  interference.  About  1,950  years  ag( 
fifty-five  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ — he 
sailed  with  an  army  of  Roman  soldiers  across 
the  straits  of  Dover.  (It  is  only  twenty-two 
miles  across  this  channel,  and  the  Romans  could 
see  the  white  cliffs  of  Dover  from  the  harbor 
from  which  they  set  sail.) 


THE   WHITE   CLIFFS   OF  DOVER. 

When  he  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Britain, 
Caesar  found  a  large  army  on  the  shore  ready  to 
dispute  his  landing.  The  Britons  were  armed 
with  spears,  and  bows  and  arrows,  and,  be- 
sides they  had  war-chariots  with  sharp  swords 
projecting  from  the  ends  of  the  axles.     When 


The  Romans  and  the  Britons  13 

these  were  driven  among  the  enemy  many  were 
cut  in  pieces.  The  Britons  were  frightful  in 
appearance,  being  large  men,  with  long  hair  and 
beard,  and  wearing  ox-horns  fastened  to  their 
helmets.  The  Romans  were  afraid  to  land  in 
the  face  of  so  terrible  a  foe.  So  they  drove  their 
transports  along  the  coast  hoping  to  find  some 
point  where  their  vessels  could  be  brought 
nearer  to  the  shore.  Not  succeeding  in  this, 
and  being  unwilling  to  return  without  striking 
a  blow,  the  standard  bearer  on  one  of  the  vessels 
leaped  into  the  water,  calling  to  the  soldiers  to 
follow  him  if  they  would  not  see  their  standard 
captured  by  barbarians.  To  lose  a  standard 
was  a  great  disgrace,  and  immediately  the  water 
between  the  boats  and  the  shore  was  filled  with 
armed  soldiers.  They  made  their  way  with 
difficulty  through  water  waist  deep  and  in  the 
midst  of  a  shower  of  spears  and  arrows.  Their 
armor  protected  most  of  them  from  the  weapons 
of  the  enemy,  and  as  soon  as  they  approached 
the  shore  where  the  water  was  more  shallow, 
they  ran  together  into  groups  or  companies  in 
the  form  of  solid  squares,  having  twelve  men  in 
each  rank  and  ten  ranks,  one  behind  the  other, 
in  each  company.  Three  of  these  squares  made 
a  Roman  cohort"  and  ten  cohorts  a  Roman  legion. 
The  legions  then  arranged  themselves  in  line  of 
battle  so  that  one  cohort  or  company  could  as- 


14 


The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 


sist  and  protect  another,  and  these  soUd  squares 
of  soldiers  moving  together  attacked  the  enemy 
with  a  power  the  Britons  could  not  withstand. 
They  were  driven  from  the  field  with  great 
slaughter,  not  for  want  of  courage  but  because 
they  were  merely  an  armed  mob  attacked  by  a 


A   NATIVE    BRITON. 

disciplined  army.  The  desperate  courage  with 
which  they  fought  convinced  Caesar  that  his 
army  of  10,000  soldiers  was  too  small  to  follow 
up  his  first  victory  with  any  hope  of  success.  He 
staid  in  Britain  but  three  weeks  and  then  returned 
to   Rome.     The  next   year  he   again   invaded 


The  Romans  and  the  Britons  15 

Britain  with  a  picked  army  of  25,000  men.  The 
Britons  sought  to  stay  his  march  of  destruction 
but  all  in  vain.  One  stronghold  after  another 
was  carried  by  storm,  and  no  army  of  the  Britons 
could  stand  against  the  Roman  legions  in  the 
open  field. 

After  Caesar  had  taught  the  Britons  the  lesson 
that  they  could  not  give  aid  to  the  enemies  of 
Rome  except  at  a  fearful  cost,  he  withdrew  with 
his  whole  army.  He  thought  that  now  the 
Britons  would  remain  at  home  and  attend  to 
their  own  affairs  when  a  quarrel  should  again 
arise  between  the  Romans  and  the  Gauls. 

It  was  nearly  100  years  after  this  and  long 
after  the  great  Caesar  had  been  assassinated  by 
his  friend  Brutus  and  the  other  conspirators  in 
the  Senate  House  in  Rome,  that  another  Roman 
army  large  enough  to  overcome  all  opposition 
invaded  Britain.  The  leader  of  this  army  was, 
at  first,  Suetonius,  and  afterward,  Agricola.  The 
latter  was  one  of  the  greatest  Romans  of  his 
time. 

A  fierce  and  bloody  war  was  waged  for  many 
years.  At  length,  by  superior  arms  and  better 
military  discipline,  more  than  by  superior  valor, 
the  Romans  became  undisputed  master  of  that 
part  of  Great  Britain  now  called  England.  Agrir 
cola  built  a  chain  of  forts  between  the  Clyde 
and  Forth,  from  sea  to  sea.     These  served  as 


16  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

the  northern  boundary  of  the  Roman  dominion 
and  as  a  defense  against  the  barbarous  Picts  and 
Scots  who  then  inhabited  what  is  now  Scotland. 
After  the  time  of  Agricola  a  high  wall  connecting 
these  fortresses  was  built  across  the  island. 

The  Romans  continued  to  rule  over  the  Brit- 
ons for  about  350  years;  nearly  as  long  as  from 
the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  until  now. 

The  Britons  had  many  brave  leaders  during 
their  long  war  with  the  Romans.  Among  these 
was  Caractacus.  After  many  battles  in  which 
he  had  fought  with  great  courage  and  sometimes 
with  success,  he  was  finally  taken  and  carried 
captive  to  Rome.  When  he  was  brought  be- 
fore the  Emperor  Claudius  he  said:  ^^I  am  in 
your  power  and  you  can  do  vv^ith  me  what  you 
will.  I  am  here  because  I  was  faithful  to  my 
country  and  would  not  promise  to  be  your  slave 
and  obey  your  laws.  You  can  put  me  to  death, 
but  you  can  gain  greater  honor  by  setting  me 
free.'^      . 

The  emperor  admired  his  manly  courage  and 
patriotic  spirit,  and  ordered  that  his  life  be 
spared  and  that  he  be  kindly  treated. 

Another  name,   which 
for  a  long  time  was  en- 
shrined in  the  hearts  of 
the  Britons,  was  that  of 
BRITON  COIN.         Queen  Boadicea.       She 


The  Romans  and  the  Britons  17 

was  the  wife  of  a  British  chieftain  who,  at  one 
time,  had  been  cruelly  humihated  and  insulted 
by  the  Romans  to  whom  he  had  come  with  a 
message  from  his  countrymen. 

Before  his  death  her  husband  made  Nero  heir 
to  the  throne  of  the  Iceni  jointly  with  his  two 
daughters.  He  hoped  by  this  act  to  gain  the 
Roman  Emperor's  protection  for  his  family  and 
people.  But  no  sooner  had  the  king  died  than 
the  Romans  seized  all.  When  Queen  Boadicea 
protested  against  this  outrage  the  Roman  sol- 
diers bound  her  to  a  post  and  publicly  whipped 
her.  They  shamefully  insulted  her  daughters 
also. 

All  the  Iceni,  in  their  rage  at  this  insult  to 
their  royal  family,  rose  in  rebellion  against  the 
R,omans  and  swore  that  they  would  drive  them 
into  the  sea.  They  raised  an  army  of  230,000 
soldiers,  while  the  Romans  numbered  only 
10,000.  This  great  army  was  led  by  the  queen,  and 
at  the  beginning  she  was  everywhere  victorious, 
even  capturing  liOndon.  But  her  army  was  lit- 
tle more  than  an  armed  mob.  In  the  decisive 
battle  that  soon  followed,  this  great  force  was 
cut  to  pieces  and  Boadicea  killed  herself  to 
avoid  being  carried  captive  to  Rome. 

We  see  in  Caractacus  and  Boadicea  examples 
of  the  noble  character  and  love  of  liberty  of  that 
people  who  first  inhabited  Britain,  and  who  were 


18  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

the  ancestors  of  the  Irish  and  the  Welsh  who 
now  Uve  in  America. 

When  you  visit  England  you  will  probably 
drive  out  over  Salisbury  Plain  on  a  Roman  road 
built  more  than  1,600  years  ago.  This  road  ran 
in  a  straight  line  from  one  city  to  another,  up 
hill  and  down  dale,  never  going  round  a  hill  but 
always  over  it.  The  other  old  Roman  roads  have 
the  same  character.  All  run  in  a  straight  line 
from  start  to  finish.  The  design  was  to  make 
each  road  the  shortest  distance  between  two 
towns.  They  did  not  use  carriages  and  wagons 
in  those  days,  but  they  either  rode  on  horseback 
or  walked.  Merchandise  and  all  kinds  of  freight 
were  carried  in  packs  strapped  on  the  backs 
of  horses  and  mules,  in  the  same  way  that  such 
things  are  carried  through  the  mountains  to-day. 
They  could,  therefore,  go  by  a  straight  line  from 
one  place  to  another  more  quickly  than  by  a 
winding  road. 

The  Romans  were  great  architects  also.  W^e 
find  the  remains  of  Roman  buildings  in  England 
that  must  have  rivaled  in  their  magnificence 
some  of  those  in  the  city  of  Rome.  They  built 
^'camps,^'  or  towns,  and  surrounded  them  with 
strong  walls.  The  Roman  name  for  camp  was 
castra.  Many  of  these  camps  afterward  grew  to 
be  cities  and  towns.  The  word  '^castra"  was 
sometimes  changed  to  '^  Chester.'^     So  we  have 


The  Romans  and  the  Britons 


19 


20  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

towns  called  Ro-chester,  Man-chester,  as  well  as 
Lan  -  caster,  Tod  -  caster,  Don  -  caster,  Caster- 
bridge,  and  others.  They  were  once  Roman 
garrisons. 

The  Britons,  like  the  Gauls,  were  heathen 
who  are  supposed  to  have  had  a  mysterious 
kind  of  religion,  and  whose  priests  were  called 
Druids.  Their  places  of  worship  were  the  for- 
ests and  groves,  and  the  oak  and  mistletoe  were 
revered  as  sacred.  The  mistletoe  is  all  that  re- 
mains to  us  of  the  religion  of  the  Druids.  But 
something  would  be  lost  from  our  Christmas 
festivals  if  the  mistletoe  were  left  out  of  them. 

The  most  sacred  place  of  worship  of  the  Brit- 
ons was  not  an  enclosed  building  like  our  cath- 
edrals, but  it  consisted,  as  is  supposed,  of  im- 
mense stones  some  of  them  thirty  feet  long,  set 
up  on  end  in  the  ground.  They  were  set  in  two 
circles,  one  within  the  other. 

Some  ten  miles  from  Salisbury,  on  an  old  Ro- 
man road,  you  will  find  the  ruins  of  one  of  these 
cathedrals  of  the  early  Britons.  It  is  now  called 
Stonehenge.  What  religious  rites  were  per- 
formed there  no  one  knows,  but  the  influence  of 
the  religion  upon  the  people  appears  to  have 
been  more  humane  than  was  that  of  many  of 
the  other  heathen  religions  of  the  continent. 

The  Romans  continued  to  rule  over  the  Brit- 
ons  for   more   than    300   years.     During   this 


The  Romans  and  the  Britons  21 

period  the  Britons  were  converted  to  Christian- 
ity by  the  influence  of  Helena,  a  native  of  Britain, 
who  was  the  mother  of  Const antine  the  Great. 
(300)  Constantine  was  the  first  Christian  em- 
peror of  Rome.  The  Christian  religion  was  the 
religion  of  Britain,  until  about  100  years  after 
the  Romans  withdrew  from  the  island.  They 
went  away,  much  to  the  sorrow  of  the  Britons, 
who  had  come  to  depend  upon  them  for  pro- 
tection from  the  painted  barbarians  of  Scotland 
whom  not  even  the  Romans  could  subdue. 
They  were  called  the  ^'Picts,''  because  of  the 
custom  of  coloring  their  skin.  Many  Britons 
from  Ireland,  called  Scots,  also  lived  in  Scotland 
and  joined  the  Picts. 

For  fifty  years  after  the  Romans  withdrew  the 
Britons  carried  on  a  defensive  war  against  the 
Picts  and  Scots  who  were  the  ancestors  of  many 
of  the  people  who  now  live  in  Scotland  and  in 
the  northern  part  of  Ireland.  It  seems  that 
when  the  Romans  came  the  Britons  in  the  island 
consisted  of  two  different  tribes;  those  in  the 
north,  called  by  the  Romans '  the  Picts,  and 
those  in  the  southern  part,  known  to  the  world 
as  Britons.  The  Roman  rule  had  not  taught  the 
Britons  to  be  self-reliant,  and  when  the  Picts 
scaled  the  boundary  wall  which  the  Romans 
had  built,  the  Britons  called  on  the  Romans  for 
assistance.     When  this  call  was  unheeded,  they 


22  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

asked  the  German  barbarians  for  help.  So  it 
appears  that  the  first  of  the  German  invaders 
came  in  on  invitation  of  the  Britons  themselves. 
They  afterwards  proved  to  be  very  troublesome 
guests,  but  for  a  while  they  acted  as  friends  and 
drove  back  the  Picts,  and  Hved  peaceably  on 
the  lands  the  Britons  gave  them  for  their  serv- 
ices. 

But  in  the  year  449  A.  D.,  five  hundred  years 
after  Caesar's  invasion,  a  great  horde  of  German 
barbarians  from  the  continent  settled  in  Britain, 
and,  after  many  years,  killed  most  of  the  Britons 
and  drove  those  who  survived  into  the  moun- 
tains of  Wales  or  over  into  Ireland. 

In  those  beautiful  poems  of  Alfred  Tennyson, 
"The  Idylls  of  the  King,''  you  can  read  the 
legendary  stories  of  King  Arthur  and  his  Knights 
of  the  Round  Table.  These  are  stories  of  the 
Britons  in  their  struggle  to  defend  themselves 
against  these  new  enemies.  According  to  them, 
Arthur,  with  his  magic  sword,  Excalibur,  aided 
by  his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table,  waged  suc- 
cessful war  with  these  invaders  for  many  years. 
But  the  magic  of  the  German  spirit  was  stronger 
than  that  of  Arthur's  sword,  and  by  reason  of 
this  spirit  the  Saxons  not  only  overcame  the 
Britons,  but  the  English  nation  has  since  grown 
to  be  mistress  of  not  only  the  British  Isles  but  of 
m.uch  of  the  world  besides.     These  barbarians 


The  Romans  and  the  Britons  23 

from  Germany  were  the  Saxons  and  the  Angles, 
who  came  to  be  known  afterwards  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  All  the  descendants  of  these  mvaders 
of  England  are  called  Anglo-Saxons  to  this  day, 
and  yet  quite  as  many  Danes  and  Normans  set- 
tled in  England  as  Angles  and  Saxons.  Per- 
haps you  will  learn  later  why  the  name  ^'Anglo- 
Saxon  "  outlived  all  the  names  of  the  other  peo- 
ple who  united  with  these  first  invaders  to  make 
the  English  nation. 

The  fact  that  England  was  an  island  separ- 
ated from  the  continent  by  a  stormy  channel 
and  the  North  Sea,  made  it  easier  for  the  germs 
of  freedom  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  spirit  to  grow 
into  a  free  government.  Other  Germanic  races 
on  the  continent  had  this  spirit  at  first,  but  it 
was  quenched  for  a  long  time  by  the  opposition 
of  other  nations  that  had  it  not.  The  English 
were  left  more  to  themselves,  and  could  more 
easily  defend  themselves  against  the  attacks  of 
foreign  enemies  because  of  their  insular  position. 
I'he  fact  that  Britain  was  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  the  sea  had  many  advantages  which 
will  appear  later  on. 


SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  three  nations  belong  to  the  same  family?  What  reason 
have  the  Americans  for  regarding  the  English  as  our  parents?  What 
reason  for  calling  the  Germans  our  grandparents?  What  people 
lived  in  Britain  before  the  Romans  invaded   it?     Who  was  Julius 


24  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

Caesar?  Why  did  he  lead  an  army  against  the  Britons?  How 
long  after  the  invasion  of  Caesar  did  the  Romans  undertake  the  con- 
quest of  Britain?  What  part  of  that  which  is  now  Great  Britain 
were  they  unable  to  conquer?  Why  did  they  build  a  wall  from  sea 
to  sea  across  Britain ?  How  did  the  Romans  build  roads?  What 
does  "castra"  or  "chester"  mean  in  the  names  of  English  towns? 
How  long  did  the  Romans  hold  Britain?  How  long  after  they  re- 
turned to  Rome  did  the  Germans  begin  to  come  in?  Why  did  they 
come  at  first?  What  was  the  religion  of  the  Britons  before  they  became 
Christians?  Through  whose  influence  did  they  become  Christians? 
What  trees  and  plants  did  the  Druid  priests  call  sacred?  In  what 
kind  of  temples  did  they  perform  their  religious  rites?  Give  reason 
for  the  opinion  that  the  ancient  Britons  belong  to  the  same  family 
as  the  Gauls?  What  is  the  present  name  of  the  country  of  the  Gauls? 
Of  the  Britons?  Of  the  Picts  and  Scots?  How  long  after  Julius 
Caesar  did  the  Anglo-Saxons  begin  to  invade  Britain? 


BOADICEA. 


When  the  British  warrior  queen, 
Bleeding  from  the  Roman  rods, 

Sought,  with  an  indignant  mien. 
Counsel  of  her  country's  gods. 

Sage  beneath  a  spreading  oak 
Sat  the  Druid,  hoary  chief; 

Every  burning  word  he  spoke 
Full  of  rage,  and  full  of  grief : 

"  Princess !  if  our  aged  eyes 

Weep  upon  thy  matchless  wrongs, 
'Tis  because  resentment  ties 

All  the  terrors  of  our  tongues. 

"Rome  shall  perish, — write  that  word 
In  the  blood  that  she  has  spilt; 
Perish  hopeless  and  abhorr'd. 
Deep  in  ruin  as  in  guilt.' ' 


*  * 

— William  Cowper. 


II. 

THE  SAXON  INVASION. 

449—830 

For  many  centuries  a  great  many  people 
called  the  Teutons  have  lived  in  northern  Europe. 
They  are  also  known  as  the  Germanic  race. 
They  include  the  people  of  Norwa}^,  Sweden, 
Denmark,  Holland  and  much  of  the  present 
German  empire,  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Austria.  Another  and  different  race 
inhabit  Russia,  who  are  known  as  Slavs  (Slavz.) 
The  Latin  race  is  different  still.  They  include 
the  Italians,  some  of  the  Spaniards,  and,  pos- 
sibly, other  people  of  southern  Europe.  The 
people  once  living  in  France  were  the  Gauls,  or 
Celts,  and  were  of  the  same  race  as  the  Britons, 
as  you  learned  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The 
present  inhabitants  of  France  are  the  descend- 
ants of  a  union  of  the  Celts  with  the  Teutonic 
people  called  Franks.  They  are  generally  classed 
with  the  Latin  races;  perhaps  because  of  a  sim- 
ilarity of  language.  The  Teutonic,  the  Slavic, 
and  the  Celtic  races  are  the  inhabitants  of  north- 
ern Europe  to-day,  as  they  were  2000  years  ago. 

25 


26  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

Now  the  Angles,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Jutes 
belonged  to  the  original  Teutonic  race.  They 
lived  in  Holland  and  Denmark  and  the  Germans 
east  of  them  were  pressing  hard  upon  them  for 
more  room,  and  crowding  them  westward  toward 
the  North  sea.  They  were  a  heathen  people 
who  worshiped  such  deities  as  Thor,  and  Tiw, 
and  Woden.  (The  days  of  the  week  are  named 
from  some  of  these  gods  of  our  German  grand- 
parents. Wednesday  is  Woden's-day — Woden 
was  the  king  of  the  gods  and  of  war;  Thursday 
was  Thor's-day — Thor  was  the  god  of  lightning 
and  thunder ;  Sunday  and  Monday  were  the  days 
sacred  to  the  worship  of  the  Sun  and  Moon; 
Friday  was  the  day  on  which  honor  was  paid  to 
Friga,  the  protector  of  the  home;  Saturday  was 
sacred  to  an  unknown  god  called  Soetre;  Tiw 
was  the  dark  god  to  meet  whom  was  death. 
His  name  has  been  preserved  in  Tuesday.) 

The  Germans  were  a  strong,  hardy  people 
who  believed  in  freedom  and  who  had  a  govern- 
ment resembling  a  democracy.  They  were  cruel, 
and  so,  too,  were  their  gods.  When  men  wor- 
ship cruel  gods  they  are  apt  to  be  cruel  toward 
their  fellow  men. 

The  Saxons  first  came  into  the  island  on  the 
invitation  of  the  Britons,  who  asked  them  to 
come  over  and  help  them  to  drive  back  the  bar- 
barous tribes  of  the  north.   They  were  glad  to  ac- 


The  Saxon  Invasion  27 

cept  the  invitation  of  the  Britons  to  make  Britain 
their  home  and  in  return  for  it  they  assisted 
in  expelUng  the  northern  barbarians.  This  was 
soon  accomphshed  by  the  combined  efforts  of 
Britons  and  Saxons,  and  the  sea  rovers  received 
as  their  reward  the  island  of  Thanet  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Thames,  where  they  settled  with  their  fam- 
ilies and  friends.  (This  is  not  now  an  island 
but  is  part  of  the  main  land.)  When  other  Ger- 
mans learned  how  fair  was  this  country  they  too 
came  in  large  numbers.  They  considered  that 
the  land  belonged  to  any  one  who  was  strong 
enough  to  take  and  hold  it.  The  Britons  now 
repented  that  they  had  asked  these  powerful 
barbarians  to  be  their  allies.  They  had  ex- 
changed one  foe  for  another  more  powerful  and 
cruel  than  their  old  enemies  of  the  north. 

The  first  to  come,  uninvited,  were  the  Jutes 
from  Jutland  in  Denmark,  and  they  drove  the 
Britons  out  of  the  county  of  Kent  which  ad- 
joined the  island  of  Thanet.  The  Saxons  who 
were  near  neighbors  to  the  Jutes,  joined  in  the 
invasion  in  much  larger  numbers,  and,  together, 
the  two  tribes,  after  a  struggle  lasting  many 
years,  drove  the  Britons  whom  they  did  not  kill 
into  the  mountains  of  Wales,  or  across  the  Irish 
sea  into  Ireland.  About  the  same  time  the 
Angles,  or  Engles,  who  were  neighbors  of  the 
Jutes  and  Saxons,  came  over  in  still  greater  num- 


28  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

bers  and  landed  at  different  points  north  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames  river,  and  began  an  attack 
upon  the  Britons  all  along  the  eastern  shore  to 
the  Humber  river. 

The  Britons  called  all  of  these  invaders  Sax- 
ons, perhaps  because  they  all  used  in  battle  a 
short,  broad-sword,  or  knife,  called  Sax;  or  it 
may  be  because  the  Saxons  were  most  numer- 
ous and  active  in  the  early  part  of  the  invasion. 

The  country  conquered  by  the  Angles  was 
known  to  Europeans  as  Anglia  and  many  years 
later,  when  all  these  tribes  had  joined  together 
to  repel  the  invasion  of  the  Northmen,  the  Sax- 
ons, Angles,  and  Jutes  came  to  be  known  to 
Europeans  as  English.  The  Engles  seem  to 
have  given  their  name  to  the  country y  while  the 
Saxons  gave  theirs  to  the  language.  For  many 
generations  the  language  used  in  England  by  the 
common  people  was  called  Saxon.  These  three 
tribes  all  had  similar  customs  and  laws  as  well 
as  a  common  language. 

It  was  500  years  after  Julius  Caesar  first  land- 
ed in  Britain  with  his  Roman  army  that  the 
Jutes  made  their  invasion  into  Kent  under  the 
two  leaders,  Hengist  and  Horsa.  It  was  another 
200  years  and  more  before  the  Saxons  had  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  the  Britons  out  of  the  greater 
portion  of  Southern  England.  The  Britons  were 
driven  westward,  year  by  year,  very  much  as 


The  Saxon  Invasion  29 

the  white  man  has  driven  the  Indians  of  North 
America  towards  the  Pacific.  The  Romans  did 
not  desire  to  destroy  the  Britons  but  to  rule 
over  them.  They  protected  them  in  such  rights 
as  they  granted  to  them,  and  the  Britons  be- 
came prosperous  and  contented  as  subjects  of 
Rome.  But  our  German  grandfathers  were  not 
content  to  rule  over  the  Britons,  granting  to 
them  the  rights  of  subjects;  they  sought  to  ex- 
terminate them,  and  permitted  none  to  Uve 
among  them  except  as  slaves. 

Little  kingdoms  arose  among  the  invaders. 
These  were  Kent,  Sussex,  Essex,  Wessex,  Middle 
Anglia,  East  Anglia,  North-Umbria ;  seven  in 
all.     They  were  often  at  war  with  one  another.* 

This  was  the  time  in  the  history  of  the  world 
when  Charlemagne  was  seeking  to  unite  all  the 
nations  of  the  continent  of  Europe  into  one  great 
empire.  Egbert,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  did 
in  England  what  Charlemagne  was  trying  to  do 
on  the  continent.  He  became  over-lord  of  all 
England. 

It  was  nearly  400  years  after  the  Saxons  first 
invaded  Britain  before  Egbert,  the  king  of  the 
West  Saxons,  conquered  the  other  six  kingdoms 
and  became  the  chief  ruler  of  England.     He 


♦Note  that  Wessex  is  a  contraction  of  West-Saxons,  Essex,  of 
East-Saxons,  Sussex,  of  South-Saxons,  Middlesex,  of  Middle-Sax- 
ons. 


30  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

was  not  king  but  over-lord,  for  the  freedom  lov- 
ing Germans  did  not  like  the  name  of  king  and 
refused  to  make  Egbert  the  absolute  ruler.  It 
was  a  kind  of  confederacy  of  seven  different 
kingdoms. 

Two  hundred  years  before  these  great  victories 
of  Egbert  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  converted  to 
Christianity. 

Gregory  the  Great  was  pope  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  at  the  time  (A.  D.  600),  and  he 
sent  the  great  preacher,  St.  Augustine,  as  mis- 
sionary to  England,  who,  with  the  aid  of  many 
other  priests,  succeeded  in  persuading  the  Eng- 
lish, as  we  shall  now  call  them,  to  accept  the 
Christian  religion  in  place  of  the  religion  of  their 
fathers-.  This  did  more  to  promote  the  civiliza- 
tion and  prosperity  of  England  than  any  other 
event  that  ever  happened  in  that  island. 

Why  was  it  important? 

First,  it  was  important  because  it  brought  the 
Latin  language  into  England,  and  with  it  the 
learning  of  the  world.  All  books  were  then 
written  in  the  Latin  tongue.  There  were  no 
printed  books,  and  no  written  language  except 
Latin.  The  Roman  Catholic  churches  were  the 
seats  of  learning,  and  they  made  the  English 
acquainted  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  the 
rest  of  Europe  acquainted  with  England.  Since 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Romans  the  people  of 


The  Saxon  Invasion  31 

Europe  had  had  but  Httle  knowledge  of  what 
was  done  in  England.  It  was  known  only  as  a 
dark  land  inhabited  by  fierce  barbarians. 

Second^  it  united  the  different  kingdoms  into 
one  people  and  under  one  leader  in  the  church, 
and  so  prepared  the  way  for  a  united  nation. 

Third,  the  church  introduced  the  custom  of 
bequeathing  property  by  will. 

Fourth,  it  encouraged  belief  in  the  doctrine 
that  kings  were  appointed  by  God  to  rule  the 
people.  This  is  known  as  the  ''divine  right  of 
kings. ^'  The  English  had  previously  elected 
their  kings,  believing  that  the  ablest  man  should 
rule.  They  never  fully  accepted  the  doctrine  of 
this  divine  right,  and  finally  rejected  it  alto- 
gether. But  it  caused  a  closer  union  among  the 
people  at  this  time,  and  at  a  later  period  it  was 
contended  for  by  both  the  church  and  the  kings. 

Fifth,  their  wars  were  no  longer  wars  of  exter- 
mination as  they  had  been  before.  Christianity 
had  taught  them  something  of  the  sacredness  of 
human  life.  The  church  declared  that  every  sol- 
dier had  a  right  to  life  as  soon  as  he  stopped 
fighting  and  laid  down  his  arms. 

As  3^ou  think  more  about  these  things  that 
Christianity  brought  to  our  barbarous  grandfa- 
thers, the  more  important  they  will  appear. 
They  made  them  respect  law  by  teaching 
that  God  was   the   author  of  it.      They  were 


32  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

still  savage  and  cruel  but  not  so  savage 
and  cruel  as  they  had  been  before  they  became 
Christians.  As  they  learned  to  regard  the  rights 
of  others  they  found  that  others  were  more  will- 
ing to  acknowledge  their  rights;  and  they  found, 
too,  that  it  was  better  for  them  to  live  in  peace 
and  friendship  with  one  another  than  in  a  state 
of  constant  warfare.  This  has  now  come  to  be 
the  belief  among  the  people  of  every  nation,  and 
the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  it  will  be- 
come the  practice  among  all  the  different  na- 
tionSj  in  their  intercourse  with  one  another.  A 
parliament  of  nations  will,  some  day,  settle  all 
disputes  between  governments,  without  resort- 
ing to  the  bloody  wars  that  are  now  a  disgrace 
to  Christian  civilization;  and  then  there  will  be 
a  confederation  of  the  world.  The  introduction 
of  the  Christian  religion  among  our  heatheR  fore- 
fathers was  the  beginning  of  the  movement  to- 
ward the  reign  of  universal  peace. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  were  the  Teutons?  What  are  the  three  great  races  that 
now  control  the  civiUzed  world?  Which  one  of  these  is  now  the 
greatest  race?  What  are  the  three  great  nations  belonging  to  this 
race?  Where  can  you  learn  about  the  early  religion  of 
the  Teutonic  race?  Why  did  the  Germans  first  enter  Britain? 
Point  out  on  the  map  the  location  of  the  great  wall  built  by  the  Ro- 
mans across  England.  Where  was  the  island  of  Thanet?  Is  it  an 
island  now?  When  did  the  two  great  Saxon  leaders  first  invade 
southern  England?  Which  tribe  of  invaders  finally  gave  its  name 
to  Britain?  Which  one  gave  its  name  to  the  language?     How  many 


fhe  Saxon  Invasion  S3 


years  after  Caesar  first  entered  Britain  did  the  Saxons  begin  their 
invasion?  How  long  after  the  beginning  of  this  invasion  were  all 
of  the  seven  kingdoms  united  under  Egbert  as  over-lord?  When 
was  Christianity  first  introduced  among  the  Britons?  By  whom? 
When  was  it  first  introduced  among  the  Saxons?  By  whom?  How 
did  Christianity  help  England? 


THE  COMING  OF  ST.  AUGUSTINE. 

"  Forever  hallowed  be  this  morning  fair, 
Blest  be  the  unconscious  shore  on  which  ye  tread, 
And  blest  the  silver  Cross,  which  ye,  instead 
Of  martial  banner,  in  procession  bear; 
The  Cross  preceding  Him  who  floats  in  air, 
The  pictured  Saviour!— By  Augustine  led, 
They  come, — and  onward  travel  without  dread, 
Chanting  in  barbarous  ears  a  tuneful  prayer, — 
Sung  for  themselves  and  those  whom  they  would  free ! 
Rich  conquest  waits  them: — the  tempestuous  sea 
Of  Ignorance,  that  ran  so  rough  and  high. 
And  heeded  not  the  voice  of  clashing  swords, 
These  good  men  humble  by  a  few  bare  words, 
And  calm  with  fear  of  God's  divinity." 

— William  Wordsworth. 


IIL 

KING  ALFRED  AND  THE  DANES. 

830  —  1066. 

We  have  learned  that  Britain  was  first  invaded 
by  the  Romans  and  that  during  the  350  years 
and  more  of  their  sojourn  in  the  island  the  Brit- 
ons became  Christians,  and  adopted  many  of  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  Roman  people. 
Later,  (450  A.  D.)  our  German  grandfathers,  the 
Angles  and  Saxons,  began  an  invasion  for  the 
purpose  of  driving  the  Britons  out  of  the  island. 
This  war  of  conquest  was  carried  on  for  more  than 
200  years  and  until  a  large  number  of  the  Brit- 
ons were  killed,  and  the  remainder  driven  into  a 
narrow  strip  of  territory  along  the  western  shore. 
Our  last  chapter  left  these  Anglo-Saxons,  about 
200  years  later,  an  industrious  and  prosperous 
people  united  under  one  government,  with  Eg- 
bert, the  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  as  the  over- 
lord of  all  England.     (830  A.  D.) 

But  the  rule  of  the  house  of  Egbert  had  hardly 
been  acknowledged  and  peace  among  the  war- 
ring kingdoms  declared,  before  another  tribe  of 

34 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes 


35 


invaders,  called  the  Northmen,  came  in  upon 
them  in  great  numbers.  They  came  in  large  ves- 
sels, called  ^^Long  Ships, ^^  each  propelled  by  sails 


THE   LONG  SHIPS  OF  THE   NORTHMEN, 


and  fifty  oars,  and  filled  with  warriors  armed  with 
swords  and  spears,  battle-axes,  bows  and  arrows, 
and  shields.     They  had  pictures  of  horrible  drag- 


36  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

ons  painted  on  their  sails,  and  figures  of  the 
heads  of  savage  animals  adorned  the  prows. 
They  would  row  up  the  rivers,  attack  the  towns, 
seize  upon  everything  of  value  that  could  be 
carried  away,  burn  the  homes,  and  kill  the  peo- 
ple who  did  not  flee  into  the  forests  on  their  ap- 
proach.    Then  they  would  sail  away  in  safety. 

Later  these  f  ree-booters  came  in  large  numbers 
with  their  wives  and  children,  and  sought  to 
make  England  their  permanent  home.  They 
were  called  Northmen  and  came,  principally, 
from  the  northern  part  of  the  peninsula  of  Den- 
mark. They  were  Teutons,  and  first  cousins 
of  the  Angles  and  Saxons,  speaking  a  kindred 
language  and  having  similar  customs  and  laws. 
They  were  heathen  who  worshiped  the  same  gods 
that  the  Saxons  had  formerly  worshiped,  and 
they  were  even  more  cruel  and  relentless  than 
those  who  first  drove  out  the  Britons. 

There  are  many  stories  in  the  Norse  Mythology 
of  the  lives  and  deeds  of  their  gods  and  goddesses, 
which  are  especially  interesting  to  us  because 
they  tell  us  what  our  German  grandparents 
thought  about  religion  and  the  future  life. 
Among  these  is  a  strange  story,  called  the  Nibel- 
ungen-lied,  which  tells  of  the  wonderful  deeds  of 
the  early  heroes  of  the  German  people.  Wag- 
ner's great  German  operas  are  these  stories  told 
in  music  that  is  as  wonderful  as  are  the  stories.* 

*See  Wagner  Opera  Stories,  by  Grace  Edson  Barber. 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  37 

These  Northmen  were  very  fond  of  war  and 
despised  or  pitied  those  who  staid  at  home  and 
Hved  in  peace.  They  beheved  that  the  gods 
loved  those  who  died  in  battle,  but  that  those 
who  died  in  bed  at  home  were  shut  out  from  Val- 
halla. Valhalla  was  the  abode  of  the  gods,  and 
here  the  souls  of  brave  warriors  who  had  died 
in  battle  fought  with  each  other  every  day,  were 
healed  of  their  wounds  at  sunset,  and  feasted 
with  gods  and  heroes  every  night. 

These  Danes,  or  Northmen,  kept  coming  in 
larger  numbers  into  England  and  overran  the 
country.  They  were  often  defeated  by  the  Eng- 
lish but  were  oftener  victorious.  They  gained 
possession  of  one  kingdom  after  another  of  those 
that  had  been  united  under  Egbert.  Finally  the 
great  kingdom  of  West  Saxony,  of  which  one  of 
Egbert's  grandsons  was  king,  yielded  to  them 
and  the  Danes  appeared  to  be  masters  of  all 
England.  (871  A.  D.)  For  fifty  years  after 
the  death  of  Egbert  the  war  went  on.  Egbert's 
son  Ethelwulf  was  king  for  a  time  and  after  his 
death  his  four  sons  came  to  the  throne  one  after 
another  in  quick  succession.  The  name  of  the 
youngest  was  Alfred.  He  was  only  twenty-two 
years  old  when  he  became  king  and  for  a  time 
he  was  a  king  without  a  throne.  But  he  lived 
to  be  one  of  the  greatest  kings  that  ever  ruled 
over  England. 


38  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

When  Alfred  was  a  child  no  one  supposed  that 
he  would  ever  become  king — there  were  so  many 
of  his  brothers  between  himself  and  the  crown. 
He  was  educated  for  a  priest.  He  traveled 
much  in  Europe  and  studied  at  Rome.  He  was 
a  great  lover  of  books,  and  before  he  was  a  man 
in  years  he  took  rank  among  the  learned  men 
of  his  time.  There  was  only  one  book  written 
in  English,  and  but  very  few  Englishmen  could 
read  even  that.  The  language  used  in  the  church 
was  Latin,  and  it  is  said  that  many  priests  who 
read  the  service  in  the  churches  did  not  know 
the  meaning  of  the  words  they  read.  Alfred 
was  a  devout  Christian  and  longed  to  help  his 
people  to  read  the  Bible  for  themselves. 

When  his  brother  next  older  than  himself  was 
king,  Alfred  was  one  of  the  bravest  and  most 
successful  generals  in  the  army.  He  became 
king  after  his  brother's  death,  but  his  people  had 
so  great  fear  of  the  Northmen  that  they  no  longer 
dared  to  take  the  field  against  them.  Alfred 
withdrew  into  the  wilds  of  the  forest  to  wait  for 
their  courage  to  revive,  and  he  hid  himself  for 
some  time  in  its  deep  recesses.  But  his  pursuers 
were  on  his  track.  To  escape  them  it  is  said 
that  he  disguised  himself  as  a  peasant  and  was 
employed  by  a  farmer  to  take  care  of  his  cattle, 
and  assist  his  wife  about  the  house.  He  was  all 
the  time  studying  how  to  overcome  the  Danes, 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes 


39 


and  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  strike  an  ef- 
fective blow  for  the  freedom  of  his  country. 
There  is  a  story  that  he  was  one  day  sitting  by 
the  fire  in  the  farmer's  kitchen  making  a  bow. 
His  mistress  had  set  some  cakes  before  the  fire 
to  bake,  and  had  left  him  to  watch  them,  and 
turn  them  at  times  to  keep  them  from  burning. 
Between  his  thoughts  of  his  people  and  the  jnak- 
ing  of  his  bow  he 
forgot  the  cakes, 
and  when  the 
housewifereturned 
they  were  burned 
to  a  crisp.  She 
scolded  and  beat 
him  roundly,  ex- 
claiming, ^^Drat 
you,  man!  never 
to  turn  the  loaves 
when  you  saw 
them  burning.  I'ze 
warrant  you  ready 
enough  to  eat  them  when  they  are  done.'' 

There  is  another  story  that  when  Alfred 
wished  to  learn  the  strength  and  designs  of  the 
Danish  army  he  disguised  himself  as  a  minstrel 
and  entered  their  camp.  He  was  a  young  man 
of  great  beauty,  very  skillful  as  a  harpist,  and  a 
sweet  singer.    He  soon  became  so  popular  among 


KING  ALFRED. 


40.  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

the  Danish  soldiers  that  they  took  measures  to 
prevent  him  from  leaving  the  camp.  By  and  by 
suspicion  arose  that  he  was  more  than  a  minstrel 
and  he  was  about  to  be  seized  as  a  spy  when,  by 
the  assistance  of  friends,  he  was  able  to  steal  out 
through  their  lines  at  night,  while  a  severe  storm 
was  raging,  and  throwing  himself  upon  a  swift 
horse  that  was  in  waiting  for  him  he  reached 
his  army  in  safety.  The  Eldermen — Earls — re- 
proved him  sharply  for  his  recklessness,  but  the 
information  he  gained  was  of  great  service  to 
him  in  the  battle  that  soon  followed. 

One  day  while  hiding  in  the  farmer's  hut,  word 
was  brought  to  Alfred  that  a  band  of  English 
had  attacked  a  party  of  Danes  and  put  them  to 
flight.  This  renewed  his  courage  and  hope.  He 
put  himself  at  their  head,  and  many  others  com- 
ing to  his  support,  he  fell  upon  a  large  band  of 
Northmen  and  put  them  utterly  to  rout.  He 
did  not  stop  with  a  single  victory,  but  pushed 
on  and  was  soon  at  the  head  of  a  large  army  of 
his  countrymen  who  had  hurried  to  his  standard.* 
Victory  followed  victory  until  finally  Alfred  was 
king  of  the  West  Saxons  again  as  his  grandfather 
had  been. 

The  king  soon  discovered  that  if  he  would  re- 
sist successfully  the  incursions  of  the  Danes  he 
must  meet  them  on  the  sea.  So  long  as  they 
could  sail  up  and  down  the  coast  and  the  rivers 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  41 

unopposed,  they  could  land,  attack  and  burn  a 
town,  and  get  away  in  safety  before  the  English 
could  come  to  its  defense. 

So  he  made  a  treaty  with  the  king  of  the 
Danes,  whose  name  was  Guthrum  (878  A.  D.), 
by  which  a  boundary  line  was  drawn  between 
the  territory  held  by  the  Northmen  and  that  of 
the  Saxons.  Then  Alfred  set  to  work  to  build 
ships  with  which  to  meet  the  other  hordes  of 
Northmen  who  roamed  over  the  sea  to  rob  and 
pillage  the  towns  on  the  shores.  In  a  short  time 
he  had  a  fleet  able  to  cope  with  the  ''long  ships'' 
of  the  Northmen,  and  was  able  to  protect  his 
people  from  the  Northern  pirates  that  had  so 
long  preyed  upon  the  towns  on  the  sea  coast  and 
rivers. 

Alfred  was  not  only  a  great  warrior ;  he  was  a 
great  statesman  also.  His  is  the  noblest  name 
in  all  English  history.  Professor  Freeman,  who 
is  a  historian  of  the  highest  rank, 
says  of  King  Alfred:  ^'No  other 
man  on  record  has  ever  so  thor- 
oughly united  all  of  the  virtues 
both  of  the  ruler  and  the  private 
man.  The  virtue  of  Alfred,  like  the  virtue  of 
Washington,  consisted  in  no  marvelous  display 
of  superhuman  genius  but  in  the  simple,  straight- 
forward discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  moment. 
Washington,   soldier,    statesman,    and    patriot 


42 


The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 


though  he  was,  had  less  distinction  than  Alfred 
as  a  Christian  and  scholar/'  Alfred  was  the 
captain  of  his  people  and,  also,  their  law-giver 
and  teacher. 

He  divided  the  people  into  parishes,  each  hav- 
ing a  hundred  men  able  to  bear  arms,  and  made 


ALFRED  AT  WORK. 


each  parish  responsible  for  the  wrong  acts  of  its 
members.  It  is  said  that  in  many  parts  of  Eng- 
land theft  was  unknown  and  that  one  could  travel 
unharmed  '^with  a  bosom  full  of  gold.^'     He 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  43 

wrote  books  and  poetry,  and  began  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  into  the  Saxon  language. 

He  had  many  different  things  to  do  and  di- 
vided the  time  so  as  to  give  a  certain  portion  of 
it  to  each  task.  Clocks  were  unknown  and  even 
the  hour-glass  was  not  used  in  England.  He 
marked  the  time  by  burning  candles.  These  he 
divided  by  colored  bands  into  equal  parts.  One 
of  these  parts  would  bum  for  an  hour. 

He  invited  wise  men  to  his  court  from  the  cen- 
ters of  learning  in  Europe,  in  order  that  his  peo- 
ple might  be  benefited  by  their  knov/ledge.  He 
was  known  everywhere  as  the  man  who  always 
told  the  truth.  All  the  world  now  knows  him 
as  Alfred  the  Great. 

After  many  years  the  Danes  discarded  their 
heathen  religion  and  through  the  influence  of 
the  priests  became  Christians. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  during  this  period 
the  king  of  England  could  be  chosen  by  the  chief 
men  of  the  kingdom,  provided  they  were  not 
pleased  with  the  person  whom  the  king  had 
named  as  his  successor.  The  divine  right  of 
the  king's  children  to  rule  after  him  was  not  yet 
acknowledged,  though  a  member  of  the  royal 
family  was  generally  king.  But  the  idea  of  di- 
vine right  was  growing,  and  it  was  fostered  by 
the  teachings  of  the  church. 


44  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

The  people  were  divided  into  three  distinct 
classes : 

1.  The  Eldermen  or  Earls. 

2.  The  Churls,  who  were  freemen,  but  were 
unlearned  and  were  not  nobles  nor  gentlemen. 

3.  The  Laborers,  who  were  serfs,  and  were 
held  as  property  by  the  other  two  classes,  but 
could  not  be  sold  away  from  their  homes. 

The  churls  at  first  had  the  right  to  a  vote  in 
choosing  the  king,  but  they  neglected  to  exer- 
cise it  until  they  lost  it  entirely.  We  shall  see 
later  that  this  right  was  afterward  denied  by 
the  kings  to  the  earls,  also,  but  the  people,  when 
they  had  a  competent  leader,  always  enforced 
it  against  tyrants  who  disregarded  their  rights. 

Seventy-five  years  after  the  death  of  Alfred 
the  Anglo-Saxons  had  again  come  into  control 
of  all  England,  and  the  Danes  had  become  good 
Englishmen.  The  English  nation  had  settled 
down  into  comparative  peace,  under  one  gov- 
ernment for  Saxons,  Angles,  Jutes,  and  Danes, 
when  another  invasion  by  the  Northmen  from 
across  the  sea  called  them  again  to  arms  to  pro- 
tect their  homes  and  defend  their  liberties.  So 
long  as  there  was  a  strong  king  like  Alfred  and 
his  immediate  successors  at  the  head  of  the  Eng- 
lish government,  the  northern  rovers  of  the  sea 
sought  easier  conquests.  But  a  time  came  when 
the  rulers  w^re  weak  men.     In  1017  A.  D.   a 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  45 

strong  Danish  ruler,  whose  name  was  Canute, 

came  to  the  throne  of  England.     But  Canute 

proved  to  be  one  of  the  best  rulers 

that  England  ever  had.     He  became 

a  Christian  and  a  warm  friend  of  the 

English,   and  sought  in  every  way 

to  protect  the  liberties  and  advance 

the   interests  of  the  English  and  Danes  alike. 

Again,  for  more  than  fift}^  years,  England  was 
free  from  foreign  invasions  and  Northmen  and 
Englishmen  little  by  little  united  into  one  nation 
in  which  the  Saxons,  under  the  leadership  of 
Godwin  the  Saxon,  became  the  most  powerful 
influence,  and  in  1066  A.  D.,  Harold,  the  son  of 
Godwin,  was  chosen  king.  Harold  did  not  be- 
long to  the  royal  family. 

But  with  his  election  arose  a  new  and  more 
powerful  enemy.  This  was  William,  the  duke 
of  Normandy,  who  claimed  the  English  throne 
both  by  inheritance  and  by  previous  agreement 
with  Harold.  The  invasion  of  England  by  the 
Normans  began  immediately,  and  the  influence 
of  this  invasion  will  appear  throughout  the  suc- 
ceeding pages  of  this  history. 

You  will  do  well  to  remember  that  the  SaxonB 
and  Angles — that  is,  the  English — had  always 
been  the  strong  and  endurin^^  people  since  they 
entered  the  island.  The  Danes  and  Northmen 
were  powerful  soldiers,  but  in  the  arts  of  peace 


46  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

they  were  inferior  to  the  Anglo-Saxons.  How 
will  it  be  after  the  final  settlement  with  the  Nor- 
man invaders  is  made? 

Before  we  enter  upon  the  study  of  that  ques- 
tion we  should  learn  something  of  the  form  of 
government  under  which  the  English  lived  at 
the  time  of  King  Alfred  and  for  more  than  150 
years  afterward. 

Every  parish  or  village,  called  a  hundred^  was 
governed  by  a  village  council,  consisting  of  a 
certain  number  of  the  wisest  men  of  the  parish. 
The  parish  was  held  responsible  for  all  the  wrong- 
doing within  its  borders,  and  it  was  the  business 
of  the  village  council  to  try  all  persons  charged 
with  crime.  Any  one  so  charged  had  to  prove 
that  he  was  innocent  before  he  was  acquitted. 
This  has  been  changed  since  then,  and  now,  both 
in  our  country  and  in  England,  those  who  charge 
a  person  with  a  crime  must  prove  that  he  is 
guilty  before  he  can  be  punished.  In  France, 
however,  it  is  the  rule,  to  this  day,  that  the  pris- 
oner must  prove  that  he  is  innocent  in  order  to 
escape  punishment.  This  sometimes  works  great 
wrong  to  the  accused.  But  our  rule  often  per- 
mits the  guilty  to  escape.  And  yet  it  seems  to 
us  that  it  is  better  that  the  guilty  escape  than 
that  the  innocent  be  unjustly  punished. 

When  one  was  charged  with  a  crime  in  King  Al- 
fred's time  the  village  council  selected  twelve  men 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes 


47 


of  the  parish  in  which  the  offense  was  committed, 
to  Usten  to  the  evidence  and  decide  whether 
the  person  charged  was  guilty  or  not  guilty. 
These  twelve  men  were  called  a  jury.     So  we 


MAP  OF  ENGLAND 

Showing  the  division  between  the  Saxons  and  the  Britons. 

see  that  our  present  court  and  jury  came  down 
to  us  from  early  England,  and  are  more  than 
1000  years  old. 


48  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

Whenever  the  Saxons  seized  any  new  terri- 
tory from  the  Britons  they  divided  it  into  shares. 
The  people  in  each  share,  or  shire,  were  governed 
by  a  shire  council,  who  explained  the  laws,  and 
also  acted  as  a  court  to  try  offenders.  This  shire 
council  governed  a  larger  territory  than  the  par- 
ish council,  and  was  also  responsible  for  the  good 
order  of  the  shire,  or  county.  This  was  the  ori- 
gin of  our  county  court. 

There  was  also  a  Council  of  the  Wise,  who  were 
the  advisers  of  the  king.  The  members  were 
chosen  by  the  king  from  the  great  families.  This 
council  was  the  beginning  of  the  present  British 
House  of  Parliament,  and  of  the  American  Con- 
gress. Its  chief  duties  seem  to  have  been  to  give 
counsel  to  the  king,  and  to  select  a  new  king 
when  the  throne  became  vacant.  They  gener- 
ally selected  one  of  the  royal  family,  but  there 
was  no  law  that  compelled  them  to  do  so.  Thus 
you  see,  in  the  early  government  of  the  English, 
the  beginnings  of  the  present  form  of  the  English 
government  and  of  that  of  the  United  States  as 
well. 

Not  only  did  our  government  begin  more  than 
1,000  years  ago,  but  our  history  began  to  be  writ- 
ten then.  King  Alfred  was  the  first  to  write 
down  an  account  of  what  took  place  in  England 
during  his  reign.  (878  A.  D.)  This  record  is 
now  known  as  the  ^^Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle''  and 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  49 

it  grew  in  size  and  importance  for  many  years 
after  his  death.  From  it  are  gained  most  of 
the  facts  that  appear  in  the  different  histories 
of  the  Enghsh  people  concerning  the  early  period 
before  any  but  the  priests  could  read  and  write. 
Since  all  the  books  were  then  written  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  every  one  who  would  read  of  the  deeds 
of  his  own  people  or  of  other  nations  was  com- 
pelled to  learn  the  Latin  language. 

It  is  not  quite  true  to  say  that  all  the  books 
in  England  were  written  in  Latin  previous  to 
King  Alfred.  More  than  one  hundred  years  be- 
fore this  a  poet  by  the  name  of  Caedmon  com- 
posed the  first  English  poem,  the  ^  ^Creation  of 
the  World . ' '  This  was  written  in  Saxon .  About 
fifty  years  before  Caedmon,  the  Venerable  Bede 
wrote  a  history  of  England  in  prose,  now  known 
as  Venerable  Bede's  History  of  the  Church.  He 
was  an  Englishman,  but  he  wrote  in  Latin. 

It  is  said  that  Bede  was  called  ^Tenerable^^  be- 
cause he  lacked  but  little  of  being  a  saint.  There 
is  a  story  that  when  old  and  blind  the  roguish 
boy  who  led  him  about  stopped  in  an  open  field 
and  told  him  that  an  assembly  of  the  people 
were  before  him  who  waited  for  him  to  preach 
to  them,  when,  in  fact,  no  one  was  present. 
When  he  finished  his  sermon  the  boy  was  terri- 
fied to  hear  all  the  stones  cry  out  ^^Amen !  Ven- 
erable   Bede!     Am^n!     Venerable    Bede!''     If 


50  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

the  people  believed  this  they  would  have  felt 
justified  in  calling  him  a  saint. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  something  of  the  laws 
which  King  Alfred  wrote  down  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  people.  He  said  that  they  were  not 
made  by  him,  but  that  they  had  grown  up  to  be 
the  laws  and  the  customs  of  the  English  people 
before  he  became  king.  He  feared  to  make  any 
new  laws  himself  lest  they  should  not  be  ap- 
proved by  people  in  all  parts  of  his  kingdom. 
The  following  are  a  few  examples  of  the  laws 
which  Alfred  selected  and  which  history  calls 
'^Alfred's  Dooms.''  The  word  doom  means 
law  J  or  decree. 

1.  ^^Do  not  injure  the  widows  and  the  step- 
children, nor  hurt  them  anywhere;  for  if  ye  do 
they  may  cry  unto  me  and  I  will  hear  them,  and 
I  will  then  slay  you  with  my  sword;  and  I  will 
do  so  to  you  that  your  wives  shall  be  widows  and 
your  children  step-children.  (Step  means  or- 
phaned.) 

2.  If  a  man  have  only  one  garment  wherewith 
to  cover  himself,  or  to  wear,  and  he  give  it  to 
you  in  pledge  (in  pawn),  let  it  be  returned  before 
sunset.  If  you  do  not  so,  then  he  may  call  on 
me  and  I  will  hear  him;  for  I  am  merciful. 

3.  Judge  thou  very  evenly;  judge  not  one 
doom  to  the  rich  and  another  to  the  poor;  nor 
one  to  thy  friend  and  another  to  thy  foe. 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  51 

4.  If  a  man  fight  in  the  presence  of  an  arch- 
bishop, or  draw  his  weapon,  he  shall  pay  a  fine 
of  150  shillings;  if  before  a  bishop  or  an  earl  he 
shall  pay  a  fine  of  100  shillings. 

5.  If  a  man  who  has  no  relatives  on  his  fa- 
ther's side  fight  and  kill  a  man,  if  he  have  ma- 
ternal relatives  let  them  pay  one-third  of  the 
value  of  the  man's  life;  and  the  guild  (commu- 
nity) to  which  he  belongs  a  third  part;  for  the 
other  third,  let  him  flee. 

6.  If  a  man  strike  out  another's  eye  let  him  pay 
a  fine  of  66  shillings  and  6  pennies  and  a  third 
part  of  a  penny. 

7.  If  the  shooting  (fore)  finger  be  struck  off, 
the  fine  is  15  shillings;  for  its  nail,  it  is  4  shil- 
lings." 

Why  was  the  forefinger  considered  of  greater 
value  than  the  others? 

The  following  are  taken  from  the  laws  made 
by  Canute  for  the  government  of  the  English 
people  nearly  150  years  after  King  Alfred : 

1.  "We  command  that  every  man  above 
twelve  years  of  age  make  oath  that  he  will  never 
be  a  thief  nor  harbor  one. 

2.  Let  every  freeman  become  a  member  of  a 
hundred,  and  a  tithing.  (This  gave  him  a  right 
to  protection,  and  required  him  to  obey  the  laws 
or  be  punished.) 

3.  Let  no  man  take  by  force  what  belongs  to 


52  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

him,  but  is  in  the  possession  of  another,  before 
he  has  twice  demanded  his  right  in  the  hundred. 
If  the  hundred  refuse  justice  let  him  go  to  the 
county  court  and  get  leave  to  seize  his  own.* 

4.  Let  there  be  a  village  council  held  three 
times  a  year,  and  a  county  council  held  twice  a 
year,  unless  there  be  need  oftener;  and  there 
let  the  laws  be  explained  and  judgments  rendered. 

5.  Every  man  is  entitled  to  hunt  on  his  own 
land,  but  not  on  the  land  of  the  king. 

6.  If  a  man  die  without  making  a  will,  then  let 
not  the  lord  of  the  manor  draw  more  from  his  es- 
tate than  belongs  to  him  by  law.  And  let  his 
property  be  distributed  very  justly  to  the  wife 
and  children  and  relations,  to  every  one  accord- 
ing to  the  degree  that  belongs  to  him.'' 

The  reader  will  notice  that  Alfred  did  not 
make  new  laws.  He  stated  in  simple  language 
that  all  could  understand,  what  were  the  customs 
that  had  grown  up  among  the  people  and  de- 
clared that  the  people  must  obey  them  or  be  pun- 
ished. These  customs  and  others  that  grew  up 
later  have  long  been  known  as  the  Common  Law 
of  England.  Laws  made  by  a  parliament  or 
legislature  are  called  statute  laws,  or  simply 
statutes. 

We  shall  see  that  after  many  years  had  passed 
and  the  people  had  suffered  a  long  time  from 

♦The  hundred  was  the  parish  governed  by  a  parish  council. 


King  Alfred  and  the  Danes  53 

laws  made  by  the  king  which  were  not  the  com- 
mon customs  of  the  people,  but  were  oppressive 
and  unjust  to  them,  then  the  people  asked  that 
men  be  chosen  to  help  the  king  to  make  just 
laws.  The  men  so  chosen  were  called  a  par- 
liament. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  were  the  Northmen?  What  was  their  beUef  about  the  fu- 
ture Hfe?  What  was  the  relation  between  Egbert  and  Alfred?  How 
old  was  Alfred  when  he  became  king?  Who  was  the  king  of  the 
West  Saxons?  Were  the  Danes  or  the  English  the  stronger  in  war? 
Who  became  leaders  in  times  of  peace?  Who  led  the  last  Danish 
invasion?  What  kind  of  a  ruler  was  Canute?  There  is  a  story  about 
his  commanding  the  sea  not  to  wet  his  feet.  Was  there  any  wisdom 
in  that?  What  were  the  three  classes  among  the  people?  What  was 
the  original  meaning  of  shire  in  England?  How  did  Alfred  compare 
with  other  kings  in  learning  and  wisdom?  How  do  the  historians 
rank  him  among  English  rulers?  When  did  William  the  Conqueror 
invade  England? 

ALFRED. 

"  liehold  a  pupil  of  the  monkish  gown, 
The  pious  Alfred,  king  to  justice  dear! 
Lord  of  the  harp  and  liberating  spear; 
Mirror  of  princes !     Indigent  renown 
Might  range  the  starry  ether  for  a  crown 
Equal  to  his  deserts,  who,  like  the  year, 
Pours  forth  his  bounty,  like  the  day  doth  cheer, 
And  awes  like  night,  with  mercy- tempered  frown. 
Ease  from  this  noble  miser  of  his  time 
No  moment  steals;  pain  narrows  not  his  cares — 
Though  small  his  kingdom  as  a  spark  or  gem. 
Of  Alfred  boasts  remote  Jerusalem, 
And  Christian  India,  through  her  widespread  clime, 
In  sacred  converse  gifts  with  Alfred  shares." 

— William  Wordsworth. 


IV. 

THE  EARLY  GOVERNMENT  OF  ENGLAND. 

Our  great-grandfathers  of  the  German  race 
loved  freedom.  Hamilton  Wright  Mabie  says 
of  them,*  that  they  ''had  the  love  of  play  and  of 
work  to  a  degree  which  made  them  bold  fight- 
ers, brave  sailors,  and  true  poets.  They  loved 
danger,  and  their  heroes  were  men  who  thought 
little  of  death  and  a  great  deal  of  getting  things 
done.  They  pushed  obstacles  out  of  their  way, 
and  overcame  difficulties  not  only  with  fortitude 
and  patience,  but  wdth  joy  in  their  hearts.  They 
had  not  the  love  of  beauty  which  made  the 
Greeks  the  artists  and  teachers  of  the  older  world ; 
but  they  had  in  their  souls  a  deep  love  of  truth, 
of  power,  of  action,  of.  qualities  w^hich  make  men 
alive,  keep  them  free,  and  give  them  authority. 
They  dreamed  not  of  beautiful  figures  like  Apol- 
lo, but  of  masterful  gods  like  Odin  and  Thor. 
They  thought  of  life  as  a  tremendous  fight,  and 
they  wanted  to  acquit  themselves  like  men  en- 

♦Norse  Stories  by  Hamilton  Wright  Habie,  published  by  Rand, 
McNally  &  Co. 

54 


The  Early  Government  of  England  55 

during  hardships  without  repining,  doing  hard 
work  honestly  and  with  a  whole  heart,  and  dying 
with  their  faces  toward  their  foes.  Their  heaven 
was  a  place  for  heroes,  and  their  gods  were  men 
of  heroic  size  and  spirit/' 

At  the  time  when  Caesar  carried  the  Roman 
power  into  Britain  the  barbaric  Teutons  would 
permit  no  man  to  rule  over  them.  Every  mem- 
ber of  a  community  was  a  freeman  who  was 
jealous  of  his  persotial  liberty.  They  chose 
their  wisest  and  strongest  men  for  leaders  when 
there  was  fighting  to  do,  but  they  reserved  the 
making  of  laws  to  themselves.  These  were  en- 
acted in  an  assembly  of  all  the  people.  Their 
government  was  a  pure  democracy.  But  they 
were  not  all  alike,  and  some  families  grew  to  be 
more  wealthy  and  influential  than  others.  These 
were  known  as  the  Wise  men  or  Eldermen  of 
the  tribe,  who  were  the  advisers  of  the  chief. 

This  was  the  kind  of  government  the  Jutes, 
the  Angles  and  the  Saxons  took  with  them  to 
England. 

These  three  tribes  lived  in  that  part  of  Ger- 
many bounded  on  the  south  by  the  river  Elbe 
and  extending  northward  in  the  peninsula  as  far 
as  the  Danes.  The  Angles  occupied  the  central 
part  of  this  district,  the  Saxons  joining  them 
on  the  south  and  the  Jutes  on  the  north.  The 
three  tribes  weie  a  confederacy,  speaking  one 


66  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

language  and  having  similar  customs  and  laws. 
As  early  as  the  invasion  of  Julius  Caesar  the  con- 
federacy was  known  as  the  English  Folk.  The 
Angles  being  much  the  largest  and  most  power- 
ful tribe  gave  their  name  to  the  union.  It  was 
the  Saxons  who  went  to  southern  England  in 
greatest  numbers,  and  civilized  Europe  first  be- 
came acquainted  with  them.  This  explains  why 
all  the  invaders  were  called  Saxons  by  the 
Roman  historians.  The  Aitgles  settled  north  of 
the  river  Thamies  and  formed  the  kingdom  of 
Anglia. 

There  were,  then,  two  classes  in  societ}^;  one 
was  the  Eldermen  or  Earls,  and  the  other  was 
the  Churls  or  free  common  people.  In  the  be- 
ginning every  freeman  was  a  land  owner.  But 
as  time  went  on  the  prisoners  taken  in  war  and 
the  criminals  who  had  forfeited  their  right  to 
freedom,  but  not  to  life,  were  reduced  to  slavery 
and  were  held  as  property  by  the  wealthy  land- 
owners. They  were  called  Thralls,  or  people 
held  in  thralldom. 

After  these  freedom-loving  Germans  came  to 
England,  and  had  to  fight'  with  the  Britons  for 
every  rood  of  land  they  acquired,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  give  the  chiefs,  or  generals  of  the  army, 
and  the  earls  much  more  power.  Calling  the 
people  together  to  determine  what  should  be 
done  in  every  emergency  that  arose  was  not 


The  Early  Government  of  England  57 

practicable.  And  so  it  came  about  that  the  free 
common  people  did  not  assemble  to  make  laws 
and  determine  policies,  but  these  things  were 
all  done  by  the  generals  and  the  witan,  or  wise 
men.  The  wise  men  at  length  came  to  be  rev- 
erenced as  nobles  or  lords  and  the  leader  as  a 
king.  But  for  many  years  the  lords  held  the 
right  to  elect  a  successor  to  the  king  when  a 
vacancy  occurred. 

When  Alfred  came  to  the  throne  the  need  of  a 
strong  man  at  the  head  of  the  people  had  be- 
come evident  to  all.  The  church,  too,  for  many 
years  had  been  teaching  obedience  to  the  laws 
of  the  church  because  they  were  God's  laws. 
The  church  had  a  divine  right  to  rule  in  all  mat- 
ters of  religion,  and  when  the  church  consecrated 
a  ruler  and  bestowed  on  him  its  blessing  as  the 
Lord's  anointed,  he  then  became  a  ruler  by  di- 
vine right.  So  we  can  understand  how  the  be- 
lief in  the  divine  right  of  kings  must  have  made 
great  progress  among  the  people  of  England 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago. 

Another  change  that  took  place  among  the 
Enghsh  people  before  the  time  of  William  the 
Conqueror  was  the  growth  of  a  sentiment  that 
those  would  receive  the  special  favor  of  God  who 
liberated  their  slaves.  This  belief  had  been  fos- 
tered by  the  Christian  church.  It  would  seem 
that  to  liberate  the  slaves  would  be  to  elevate 


58  The  Roman  and  Saxon  Invasions 

them  to  the  dignity  of  freemen,  but  on  the  con- 
trary it  really  helped  to  degrade  the  free  common 
people  to  the  condition  of  slaves. 

This  happened,  as  the  historians  tell  us,  in  this 
wise: 

While  the  seven  English  kingdoms  were  inde- 
pendent, each  of  the  other,  the  voice  of  the  free 
common  men  was  an  acknowledged  power  in  the 
land;  but  when  these  kingdoms  united  into  one 
government  under  an  overlord,  or  emperor,  as 
he  would  now  be  called,  the  influence  of  the  com- 
mon freemen  in  the  government  ceased,  and  the 
officers  of  the  empire  were  chosen  b}^  the  king 
and  became  his  dependents.  The  great  officers  of 
the  state  became  the  servants  of  the  king.  One  was 
master  of  his  stables,  another  of  his  kitchen,  an- 
other of  his  forests,  and  the  like.  These  were  me- 
nial services  which  the  former  free  German  f arme:* 
would  have  scorned,  but  because  these  officers 
were  servants  of  the  Lord's  anointed  they 
thought  themselves  ennobled  by  personal  attend- 
ance upon  him.  This  new  order  of  nobility  sup- 
planted the  old  earls  who  were  descendants  of  a 
long  line  of  noble  ancestors.  Each  servant  of 
the  king  had  his  personal  servants  who  were  his 
dependents;  these  dependents  had  still  others  de- 
pendent upon  them,  and  so  on  to  the  lowest  oi  - 
aer.  Each  superior  was  pledged  to  defend  his 
dependents  against  the  assaults  of  enemies  and 


The  Early  Government  of  England  59 

of  lawless  bands  in  return  for  the  service  they 
rendered  him. 

Such  a  system  had  no  room  in  it  for  the  old- 
time  free  man  who  acknowledged  no  ruler  nor 
lawgiver  but  God,  and  who  lived  upon  his  own 
farm  where  his  home  was  his  castle.  There  was 
no  safety  for  either  his  property  or  his  life,  save 
in  the  protection  of  some  lord  whom  he  must 
serve  in  return  for  such  protection. 

The  small  farmer  was  compelled,  therefore, 
to  make  the  best  terms  he  could  with  his  more 
powerful  neighbor;  and  these  were  hard  enough. 
His  farm  was  joined  to  the  lord's  estate  and  he 
must  work  for  his  lord  from  two  to  three  days 
every  week.  The  rest  of  the  time  he  could  de- 
vote to  farming  on  his  own  account. 

He  was  degraded  from  a  free  man  to  a  villein, 
or  serf.  He  was  better  than  a  slave  only  in  this, 
that  his  master  could  not  sell  him  except  with 
the  land,  and  the  house  in  which  he  lived.  A 
similar  kind  of  bondage  as  this  prevailed  in  Rus- 
sia until  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  Czar,  Alexan- 
der in.,  ordered  all  the  serfs  to  be  set  free. 

Instead  of  only  two  classes  in  English  society, 
the  earls  and  the  freemen,  there  eventually  came 
to  be  the  king  and  royal  family,  the  nobility,  the 
gentry,  the  villeins,  and  the  slaves. 

It  will  be  seen  later  how  the  people  lived  after 
William  the  Conqueror  got  control  of  all  England. 


THE  NORMAN  KINGS. 

1066  —  1154. 


V. 

WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR. 

1066  —  1087. 

Within  twenty-five  years  after  the  death  of 
Alfred  (901)  his  successors  had  taken  possession 
of  all  the  Danish  holdings  north  of  the  river 
Thames,  and  the  Saxons  were  once  more  in 
control  of  all  England.  While  this  conflict  was 
going  on,  Rolf,  the  Ganger,  another  pirate 
chieftain  from  the  Northland,  invaded  France 
and  won  a  home  in  that  portion  of  French 
territory  lying  south  of  the  English  channel, 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  river  Seine.     (912) 

Rolf  was  a  man  of  great  stature,  of  enormous 
physical  strength,  and  barbarous  as  a  Dane. 
He  was  called  the  Ganger,  or  Walker,  it  is  said, 
because  there  was  no  horse  in  Norway  tall 
enough  to  lift  his  feet  from  the  ground  as  he 
rode.     He  was,  therefore,  compelled  to  walk, 

60 


William  the  Conqueror  61 

or  ''gang."  The  French  king  was  no  match 
for  him  in  courage  or  generalship,  and  was 
finally  compelled  to  make  a  treaty  with  him 
very  much  like  that  which  Alfred  made  with 
Guthrun.  Within  fifty  years  these  Danes  had 
become  Christians  and  the  Duke  of  Normandy 
a  loyal  dependent  of  the  King  of  France. 

The  Danes  were  a  peculiar  people.  They 
were  brave,  cruel,  and  irresistible  as  warriors, 
but  wonderfully  hospitable  to  the  influence  of 
the  gentler  and  nobler  qualities  of  the  people 
among  whom  they  came  to  live. 

So  it  has  ever  been  that  while  they  have 
absorbed  the  nobler  qualities  of  their  neighbors 
and  have,  eventually,  followed  their  lead  toward 
gentler  manners,  they  have  infused,  in  return, 
much  of  their  daring  and  energy  into  their 
associates,  and  have  added  to  the  strength  and 
effectiveness  of  the  whole  people.  This  was 
especially  true  of  their  union  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  in  England.  The  Saxons  gained  mili- 
tary courage  and  skill  from  the  Danes  and  the 
latter,  in  turn,  were  made  gentler,  and  more 
just  and  forgiving  by  their  association  with 
the  Saxons. 

William,  the  great-great-great-grandson  of 
Rolf,  became  Duke  of  Normandy  when  eight 
years  of  age,  his  father  having  died  while  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  Ploly  Land.     While  he  was 


62  The  Norman  Kings 

yet  a  lad  of  eighteen  he  led  an  attack  against 
an  army  of  rebels  who  denied  his  right  to  rule. 
History  tells  us  that,  ^'Boy  as  he  was,  horse 
and  man  went  down  before  his  lance/'  At 
another  time  he  put  to  ^'rout  fifteen  soldiers 
with  only  five  men  at  his  back.''  ^'No  knight 
under  heaven  was  William's  equal . "  So  thought 
even  the  old  warriors  when  he  had  grown  to 
full  manhood. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  a  descendant  of  Alfred, 
was  then  king  of  England.  At  one  time  he 
had  promised  William  that  he  should  be  his 
successor  to  the  throne.  But  on  his  death-bed 
Edward  named  Harold,  the  son  of  the  great 
Saxon,  Godwin,  as  king  and  the  king's  Council 
confirmed  his  choice. 

Some  years  before  this  Harold  had  been 
driven  in  a  storm  upon  the  coast  of  Normandy, 
and  was  seized  and  brought  before  Duke  William 
who  compelled  him  to  take  an  oath  that  he 
wbiild  support  his  claim  to  the  throne  of  England 
\'^hen  it  became  vacant.  Harold  was  compelled 
to  choose  between  this  unjust  demand  and 
death.  He  took  the  oath  required,  but  when 
his  people  chose  him  as  their  king  he  thought 
it  his  duty  to  obey  them. 

"William  was  a  relative  of  Edward  while 
Harold  had  no  such  claim  to  the  succession, 
Ms   father   being    ''low   bom."     William   was 


William  the  Conqueror  63 

furious  when  he  heard  of  this  treachery  of 
Harold,  as  he  called  his  act.  He  immediately 
invaded  England  with  an  army  of  veteran 
soldiers  clothed  in  steel  armor.  A  battle  was 
fought  on  Semlac  Hill,  near  Hastings,  where 
Harold  was  killed  by  having  an  eye  shot  out 
by  a  descending  arrow. 

At  the  fall  of  their  king  the  English  fled, 
and  William  .the  Duke  became  William  the 
Conqueror.  He  declared  that  by  right  he  was 
the  true  successor  of  King  Edward,  and  not  a 
few  of  the  Danes  in  the  north  of  England  agreed 
with  him.  But  history  tells  us  that  he  had 
no  valid  claim  to  the  Enghsh  crown  except  as 
he  was  elected  by  the  assembly  of  the  wise. 
William  compelled  the  Council  to  elect  him  king 
after  he  had  defeated  Harold's  army  so  that 
he  might  claim  the  crown  by  election  as  well 
as  by  conquest. 

Whether  William  had  any  rights  or  not, 
there  were  some  reasons  why  the  Pope  of  Rome, 
who  had  great  influence  in  such  matters  at 
that  time,  preferred  Wilham  to  Harold,  and 
the  people  of  Europe  were  led  to  believe  that 
Harold  was  the  usurper  and  that  William  was 
the  rightful  successor  of  King  Edward  the 
Confessor. 

The  death  of  Harold  made  the  conquest  of 
Britain  easier,  and  Wilham  gradually  brought 


64  The  Norman  Kings 

the  country  under  his  control,  and  within  five 
years  became  undisputed  master  of  all  the  lands 
under  English  rule.  It  was  possible  for  him 
to  accomplish  this  because  the  English  had  no 
leader  who  could  take  the  place  of  Alfred,  or  of 
Harold.  When  the  English  had  a  great  leader 
they  were  generally  victorious. 

William  proved  to  be  a  hard  and  cruel  master, 
but  we  shall  see  before  we  complete  our  study 
of  English  history  that  it  was  because  of  this 
hard  and  relentless  tyranny  of  the  Norman 
kings  that  the  English  and  Norman  subjects 
finally  won  for  themselves  a  higher  degree  of 
freedom  than  they  had  yet  known.  In  fact, 
every  invasion  of  England  resulted,  in  the  end, 
in  making  the  English  people  more  united  and 
more  powerful  than  they  would  have  become 
without  such  struggles. 

What  were  the  results  of  this  conquest? 

King  William  claimed  that  he  was  not  a 
usurper  but  the  rightful  successor  to  King  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor.  By  a  law  made  by  WilUam 
that  declared  all  the  followers  of  Harold  to  be 
traitors,  a  large  part  of  the  landed  property 
of  the  English  people  came  into  the  possession 
of  King  William.  All  the  lands  of  a  convicted 
traitor,  in  those  times,  became  the  property 
of  the  king.  No  one  could  gain  any  right  to 
these  lands  except  by  the  grant  of  the  king. 


William  the  Conqueror  65 

But  William  used  this  great  power  with  the 
wisdom  of  a  great  statesman.  He  left  the 
smaller  landholders  in  possession  of  their  homes, 
but  stripped  the  English  lords  of  their  great 
estates.  These  estates  he  granted  to  his  Nor- 
man nobles. 

He  made  a  law  that  no  one  should  be  put  to 
death  for  any  political  offense,  and  the  death 
penalty  was  seldom  inflicted  for  any  crime. 
But  his  laws  permitted  mutilations  of  the  body 
in  punishment  of  crimes,  that,  in  many  cases, 
were  even  worse  than  death.  He  used  his 
power  over  the  land  to  reward  his  faithful 
Normans  with  large  wealth,  and  to  win  the 
middle  classes  among  the  English.  In  this 
way  his  government  became  very  strong. 

These  changes  were  made  gradually  as  he 
acquired  new  territory.  The  time  came  later 
when  the  king  relied  upon  his  English  subjects 
to  do  battle  for  him  against  his  Norman  nobles 
when  they  rebelled  against  his  authority. 

King  William  did  another  thing  which  has 
grown  into  a  blessing  for  the  English  people; 
he  established  separate  courts  for  civil  offenses 
and  for  religious,  or  church,  offenses  and 
refused  to  acknowledge  that  the  church  was 
superior  to  the  government  of  England.  The 
civil  courts  decided  all  questions  of  justice 
among   the   people,    while   the    church    courts 


66  The  Norman  Kings 

decided  all  questions  of  religious  belief  and 
worship.  This  kept  the  affairs  of  state  separate 
from  those  of  the  church.  But  William  con- 
ceded some  rights  to  the  church  courts  to  pimish 
and  reward  churchmen  that  finally  caused  a 
conflict  between  the  king's  courts  and  those  of 
the  church. 

Another  thing  which  has  proved  of  value  to 
the  English  people,  was  the  Domesday  Book 
which  the  king  caused  to  be  made.  This  book 
is  a  record  of  the  survey  of  all  the  lands  of  Eng- 
land and  of  its  re-granting  either  to  Englishmen 
or  to  Normans.  This  re-granting  of  the  land 
by  the  king  made  every  landholder  his  personal 
tenant.  A  description  not  only  of  the  tenant's 
land  but  of  all  his  other  property  was  entered 
in  this  record,  or  Domesday  Book. 

Alfred's  Doom-Book,  as  you  have  learned, 
was  a  book  of  laws,  but  William's  Domesday 
Book  was  a  record  of  all  the  land  and  other 
property  in  England  together  with  the  name  of 
each  tenant.  It  was  probably  called  Domesday 
Book  because  the  things  written  therein  were 
settled  with  the  certainty  of  the  doom  pro- 
nounced at  the  day  of  final  judgment.  WilUam 
had  it  made  that  he  might  know  what  taxes 
each  of  his  subjects  was  able  to  pay. 

Your  later  study  of  English  history  will  show 
that  the  unity  of  England  under  one  strong  and 


William  the  Conqueror  67 

permanent  government  had  its  true  beginning 
in  the  Norman  conquest,  rather  than  under 
King  Alfred.  All  the  former  unions  of  the 
Saxon  kingdoms,  under  one  ^'over-lord"  (as  he 
was  called  before  the  conquest)  were  continued 
so  long  as  there  was  a  strong  ruler  like  Alfred 
on  the  throne.  When  a  weak  over-lord  gov- 
erned, the  union  began  to  fall  to  pieces.  But 
during  the  reign  of  William  and  that  of  his  son, 
the  English  government  became  so  firmly  es- 
tablished throughout  the  land  that  weak  kings 
did  not  greatly  endanger  its  existence. 

The  Norman  conquest  made  England  a  nation 
in  a  fuller  sense  than  did  the  rule  of  King  Alfred, 
for  it  bound  every  Englishman  to  the  king  as 
his  tenant.  Besides  this  the  Normans  ruled  by 
law.  The  law  might  be  a  hard  one  but  the 
EngUsh  knew  what  it  was  and  could  depend 
upon  its  enforcement.  Alfred  wrote  down  some 
laws,  but  the  knights  and  nobles  decided  most 
of  the  questions  that  arose  among  the  people  of 
their  districts  as  they  chose. 

The  wisdom  of  William  in  winning  the  plain 
people  to  him  was  made  apparent  when  his 
Norman  subjects  in  France  and  his  barons  in 
England  rose  in  rebellion  against  him.  He 
called  upon  his  English  soldiers  to  follow  him 
to  France,  and  they  obeyed.  They  soon  forced 
those   rebellious    Normans   into   subjection   to 


68  The  Norman  Kings 

their  Duke.  This  shows  what  they  would  prob- 
ably have  done  in  England  against  the  Norman 
invaders  if  they  had  been  led  by  a  great  general 
like  William. 

To  give  counsel  to  the  king  in  the  making 
of  laws,  two  assemblies,  called  the  Council  of 
the  Wise,  or  the  ^^Witan,'^  and  the  Assembly 
of  the  People  were  known  in  England  long 
before  Alfred's  reign.  King  William  changed 
the  character  of  these  assemblies  by  issuing  a 
summons  to  the  barons  whenever  he  wished 
their  advice.  From  this  practice  has  grown,  by 
slow  changes  of  form,  the  present  House  of 
Lords  in  England.  The  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  in  the  United  States  are  the 
descendants  of  this  Witan  parliament.  Not  only 
is  this  true,  but  almost  every  department  and 
office  of  the  government  in  England  and  in  the 
United  States  has  grown  to  what  it  is  from 
something  that  was  found  in  the  government  of 
William  the  Conqueror. 

In  William's  reign  the  population  of  England 
numbered  hardly  more  than  one  million  and  a 
half  (1,500,000) ;  not  so  many  as  are  now  found 
in  some  of  the  cities  of  England.  Even 
Chicago  has  many  more  people  in  it  than  were 
then  in  all  England.  Of  this  number  more 
than  half  had  been  limited  in  their  freedom 
and  more  than  25,000  were  serfs.     These  serfs 


William  the  Conqueror  69 

had  scarcely  more  liberty  than  had  the  black 
slaves  of  the  South  previous  to  our  civil  war. 

The  king  was  a  great  lover  of  the  chase,  and 
he  made  severe  laws  to  protect  his  game  in  his 
forests.  The  crudest  thing  he  did  w^as  to  make 
a  new  forest  in  one  of  the  thickly  settled  dis- 
tricts in  England.  To  do  this  he  drove  from 
their  homes  thousands  of  Englishmen  who 
were  living  on  this  land  and  we  have  no  reason 
to  think  that  he  made  any  provision  for  them. 
He  seems  to  have  turned  them  out  to  starve. 

He  was  the  author  of  the  curfew  law  in  Eng- 
land, which  required  that  all  people  should  be 
in  their  homes  and  all  lights  put  out  at  the 
ringing  of  the  curfew-bell  in  the  evening. 

The  Norman  conquest  was  the  beginning  of 
great  changes  in  the  language  used  in  England. 
The  Normans  used  the  French,  and  the  English 
used  the  Saxon  language.  The  language  of 
the  Normans  did  not  supplant  the  Saxon.  The 
two  grew  together  side  by  side  for  150  years. 
In  the  year  1200  there  were  three  different 
languages  used  for  different  purposes. 

1.  The  language  of  common  speech  and  of 
W-itings  for  the  common  people  was  the  Saxon. 

2.  The  language  and  literature  of  the  ruling 
classes  was  French. 

3.  The  S(  holars  of  the  nation  and  all  church- 
men wrote  and  spoke  Latin. 


70  The  Norman  Kings 

From  such  different  sources  came  our  present 
English,  which  is  a  modified  form  of  the  Saxon, 
mixed  with  many  words  derived  from  the 
French  and  the  Latin. 

The  most  marked  effect  of  the  union  of  these 
three  languages  into  one  was  the  dropping  of 
the  inflections  from  the  words  taken  from  each 
of  these  languages.  This  dropping  of  the  in- 
flections is  the  chief  reason  for  calling  the 
English  a  grammarless  tongue.  Some  scholars 
have  declared  that  we  have  no  such  science  as 
English  Grammar,  because  our  language  has 
so  few  inflections. 

By  inflection  is  meant  the  changes  in  the  end- 
ings of  words  to  denote  their  meaning  or  office 
in  expressing  the  thought. 

In  Latin,  for  example,  homin  is  the  root  of 
the  word  that  means  vian;  change  in  to  o^  and 
we  know  that  the  word  is  in  the  nominative  case, 
as  homo;  add  is  and  it  is  in  the  possessive  case, 
as  hominis;  add  i  and  it  is  an  indirect  object 
(dative  case)  homini;  add  em — hominem — and  it 
is  a  direct  object;  add  e  and  homine  is  in  the 
ablative  case,  and  has  the  meaning  of  a  phrase 
beginning  with  from,  in,  by,  or  with,  as  from  a 
man,  with  a  man,  etc. 

The  Norman  French  was  inflected  in  a  simi- 
lar manner,  though  the  changes  were  fewer. 
The  same  was  true  of  the  Anglo-Saxon.    The 


William  the  Conqueror  71 

English  language  has  but  few  such  changes  to 
show  the  particular  uses  of  the  words  in  sen- 
tences. 

In  architecture  the  Norman  conquest  was 
the  beginning  of  marked  changes.  The  Nor- 
mans built  castles  and  churches  all  over  England 
in  what  is  now  known  as  the  Norman  style ;  and 
this  style  is  quite  common  in  America  to-day, 
for  large  buildings. 

The  Norman  conquest  is  considered  by  his- 
torians as  the  most  important  event  in  English 
history,  unless  we  regard  the  conversion  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons  to  Christianity,  nearly  five  hun- 
dred years  before,  as  more  important  than  that. 

William  the  Conqueror  died  on  the  9th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1087,  after  ruling  over  England  about 
twenty  years .  The  cause  and  manner  of  his  death 
do  not  comport  well  with  his  great  qualities  as  a 
ruler.  Although  he  was  one  of  the  greatest 
statesmen  and  warriors  of  the  world,  he  was 
wanting  in  some  of  the  qualities  that  belong  to 
the  greatest  men.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  carrying  on  a  war  in  France  and  had  at- 
tacked and  captured  the  small  town  of  Mantes 
a  short  distance  from  Paris.  His  only  reason 
for  anger  against  the  people  of  this  city  was  that 
the  king  of  France  had  spoken  slightingly  of 
him  and  made  him  the  butt  of  a  silly  jest.  This 
so  enraged  William  that  he  ordered  the  town  to 


72  The  Norman  Kings 

be  burned,  and  took  a  personal  delight  in  help- 
ing forward  its  destruction.  While  riding 
through  the  streets  of  the  burning  city  his  horse 
stepped  upon  a  burning  brand,  and  maddened 
by  the  pain,  plunged  so  violently  as  to  throw 
the  king,  and  of  the  hurt  thus  received  William 
died.  We  could  wish  a  nobler  death  for  a  man 
to  whom  the  English  nation  is  indebted  for  so 
much  that  has  contributed  to  its  greatness. 

The  true  character  of  William  does  not  appear 
in  those  acts  that  caused  his  death.  He  be- 
lieved in  law,  loved  justice,  and  kept  his  word. 
He  wias  not  content  to  rule  as  a  conqueror,  but 
secured  an  election  by  the  ^  ^Council  of  the  Wise 
Men,''  who,  by  the  English  law,  could  elect  a 
king.  When  his  brother,  Otho,  a  bishop  of  the 
church,  and  also  Earl  of  Kent,  who  had  been  left 
in  command  during  William's  absence  in  Nor- 
mandy, had  ruled  badly,  and  treated  the  people 
unjustly,  William,  on  his  return,  threw  him  into 
prison.  Now  it  was  against  the  law  of  the  church 
for  the  king  to  punish  a  bishop.  When  Bishop 
Otho  protested,  against  William's  assumption 
of  the  power  of  the  church,  William  replied: 
^  ^Neither  as  my  brother  nor  as  bishop  do  I  pun- 
ish you,  but  it  is  the  Earl  of  Kent  whom  I  send 
to  prison." 

William  had  most  of  the  virtues  and  many 
of  the  vices  of  the  Danes  who  were  his  ancestors. 


William  the  Conqueror  73 

He  was  barbarous,  passionate,  and  merciless,  but 
he  was  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  and  generals 
the  world  has  ever  known. 

There  is  a  popular  tradition  that  during  the 
time  of  King  Alfred  there  was  such  a  reign  of 
peace  throughout  his  kingdom  that  a  man  could 
travel  in  safety  where  he  would  with  a  bosom 
full  of  gold.  This  was  literally  true  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  King  William,  so  com- 
plete and  thorough  was  the  system  of  govern- 
ment he  established. 


SEARCH   AND   TEST   QUESTIONS. 

Who  was  Rolf  the  Ganger?  What  was  the  character  of  the  North- 
men? At  what  time  did  they  invade  France?  Who  was  Duke 
William?  Find  what  relation  he  bore  to  Rolf.  When  did  Duke 
William  invade  England?  What  reasons  had  he  for  claiming  the 
English  throne?  Who  was  king  of  England  at  that  time?  Where 
was  the  battle  fought  in  which  Harold  was  defeated?  What  was 
the  Domesday  Book?  What  did  William's  census  show  to  be  the 
population  of  England?  How  many  were  freemen?  What  differ- 
ent languages  were  in  use  in  England  at  this  time?  By  whom? 
How  many  years  did  William  rule?  What  is  the  story  of  his  death? 
What  things  did  William  do  that  helped  to  make  the  English  people 
a  nation? 


VI. 

WHAT  WAS  FEUDALISM? 

1000—1450. 

Feudalism  is  a  strange  word,  and  its  meaning 
is  very  vague  to  the  people  of  our  time.  But 
it  was  well  understood  by  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe  one  thousand  years  ago.  At  that  time 
the  king  was  held  to  be  the  real  owner  of  all  the 
land  in  the  country  over  which  he  ruled.  He 
granted  large  tracts  to  his  generals  and  other 
great  men  of  the  kingdom  on  condition  that  they 
do  homage  to  him  for  it,  and  give  him  military 
service  when  called  upon. 

When  a  lord  or  baron  or  other  great  man  did 
homage  he  knelt  before  the  king,  unarmed  and 
with  bare  head,  and,  placing  his  hands  between 
those  of  his  master  he  said:  ^^Hear,  my  lord, 
I  become  liege-man  of  yours  for  life  and  limb  and 
earthly  regard,  and  I  will  keep  faith  and  loyalty 
to  you  for  life  and  death.  God  help  me.''  Then 
the  king  kissed  him,  by  which  act  he  granted 
to  him  title  to  more  or  less  land,  according  to 
his  rank,  which  was  to  belong  to  him  and  his 

74 


What  Was  Feudalism?  75 

heirs  forever  unless  he  or  they  proved  traitors 
to  this  oath.  By  the  same  ceremony  the  lord 
or  baron  would  invest  his  tenants,  or  dependents, 
with  land  from  his  estate. 

Each  lord  and  knight  was  required  to  bring 
with  him  to  the  king's  wars  a  certain  number  of 
armed  soldiers,  and  to  support  them  at  his  own 
expense.  He  had  to  make  other  payments  to 
the  king,  also,  and  because  the  people  had  little 
money,  in  the  very  early  times,  they  paid  what 
was  due  the  king  in  cattle.  The  word,  feude,  is 
from  an  early  German  name  for  cattle,  feoh,  and 
so  we  come  to  the  original  meaning  of  this  strange 
word. 

To  a  great  statesman  or  powerful  warrior  the 
king  would  grant  a  large  tract  of  land,  which 
was  called  a  dukedom,  perhaps ;  to  others  would 
be  granted  a  county,  to  others  a  township,  and 
to  a  common  freeman  a  farm  larger  or  smaller 
according  td  the  value  of  the  service  he  could 
render.  The  ruler  of  the  largest  tract  would  be 
called  a  duke ;  of  a  smaller  tract  a  baron  or  lord ; 
of  a  county,  a  count ;  of  a  less  amount  a  knight 
or  squire;  and  he  who  secured  a  small  grant  was 
called  a  churl.  You  have  learned  that  the  low- 
est order  of  husbandmen  were  serfs  or  villeins 
(villins),  who  had  some  rights  that  their  masters 
were  bound  to  respect,  but  they  were  not  far 
above  the  condition  of  slaves. 


76 


The  Norman  Kings 


DOING   HOMAGE. 


What  Was  Feudalism?  77 

In  return  for  this  land  the  tenants  of  the  king, 
whether  they  were  high  and  powerful,  or  of  the 
lower  rank  of  freemen,  were  all  required  to  do 
four  things : 

1.  When  the  king  went  to  war  they  must  go 
with  him  and  fight  for  him  and  bring  with  them 
the  required  number  of  armed  soldiers.  How 
many  each  should  bring,  if  any  more  than  him- 
self, depended  upon  the  size  and  value  of  the  es- 
tate which  had  been  granted  to  him. 

2.  When  a  daughter  of  the  king  was  married 
the  tenant  must  give  a  certain  amount  of  money 
ks  a  wedding  present,  larger  or  smaller  according 
to  the  size  of  his  estate. 

3.  When  a  son  of  the  king  came  of  age  the  feu- 
dal lords  and  gentry  must  give  the  amount  agreed 
upon  to  pay  for  his  horse,  his  armor,  and  his 
arms,  and,  also,  for  the  expense  of  becoming  a 
knight,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  costly  under- 
taking. 

4.  If  the  king  were  taken  prisoner  in  war  the 
tenant  must  pay  a  specified  share  of  the  amount 
required  to  ransom  him. 

On  these  conditions  the  tenant  could  enter 
upon  his  estate.  Now  the  lord  or  knight  made 
a  similar  agreement  with  his  tenants ;  and  if  those 
tenants  had  other  tenants,  a  similar  agreement 
was  made  with  them.  And  so  all  the  freemen 
in  the  land  were  tenants  of  the  king  or  of  some 


78  The  Norman  Kings 

one  of  his  king^s  tenants.  Such  was  feudalism 
as  it  existed  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 

Now  William  the  Conqueror  made  a  law  that 
in  England  every  freeman  should  consider  him- 
self the  tenant  of  the  king  first  of  all;  his  second 
duty  was  to  his  land-lord^  from  whom  he  had 
received  his  rights  to  the  land  on  which  he  lived. 
This  law  made  it  difficult  for  the  great  lords  to 
unite  in  a  rebellion  against  the  king,  for  the 
tenants  of  the  barons  were  sworn  to  support  the 
king  in  preference  to  them.  Every  free  house- 
holder was  more  dependent  on  the  king  for  his 
home  than  upon  the  baron. 

There  were  four  distinct  classes  of  subjects 
after  William  became  king  of  England. 

1.  The  barons,  who  constituted  the  king^s 
councilors. 

2.  The  knights  and  freemen,  who  were  ten- 
ants of  either  the  king  or  the  barons,  but  who 
had  more  rights  and  privileges  than  were  en- 
joyed by  the  lower  classes. 

,  3.  The  villeins,  or  husbandmen,  who  were 
serfs,  belonging  to  the  land,  but  had  some  rights 
of  property  and  some  personal  rights  which  the 
land-lord  must  respect. 

4.  The  slaves,  or  thralls,  who  had  no  personal 
rights  whatever,  but  could  be  bought  and  sold 
like  cattle. 

This  system  of  land  tenure  regarded  the  king 


What  Was  Feudalism?  79 

as  the  supreme  power  in  the  nation.  But  any 
king  who  disregarded  the  legal  rights  and  well 
being  of  his  barons  and  freemen  could  not  con- 
tinue to  rule  very  long.  The  rulers  of  England 
have  always  understood  that  the  English  people 
would  not  consent  to  be  treated  as  slaves,  and 
have  generally  governed  according  to  the  laws 
made  by  the  law-making  powers.  When  they 
have  refused  to  do  this  they  have  generally  paid 
the  penalty  in  one  way  or  another.  There  are 
some  things  in  the  land-laws  of  England  at  this 
time  that  have  come  down  from  this  feudal 
period.  For  example,  the  oldest  son  inherits 
the  landed  estate,  and  in  both  England  and 
America  when  a  person  dies  without  heirs,  and 
there  is  no  will,  the  property  comes  into  posses- 
sion of  the  government  instead  of  being  divided 
up  among  the  community  in  which  it  is  located, 
and  which  has  given  it  much  of  its  value.  These 
are  survivals  of  the  former  notion  that  every- 
thing belonged  to  the  king. 

Feudalism  subjected  every  one  to  the  system, 
gave  immense  power  to  a  few  in  Hie  government, 
and  encouraged  tyranny  over  the  lower  classes. 
Before  it  was  brought  into  England  every  free- 
man was,  in  theory  at  least,  a  free  man,  and  his 
rights  were  considered  in  making  the  laws. 
After  William  became  ruler  the  king  was  the 
only  free  man  in  the  nation,  and  in  later  times 


80  The  Norman  Kings 

the  people  themselves  came  to  think  that  he 
ruled  by  right  of  his  birth.  This  was  afterward 
understood  to  mean  that  God  had  made  the 
king  of  superior  clay,  and  had  given  to  him  the 
right  to  rule  over  his  fellow  men.  For  600  years 
this  notion  prevailed  throughout  the  most  of 
the  civilized  world  and  it  has  not  yet  died  out 
in  some  countries.  But  the  belief  is  growing 
that  although  a  man  may  be  unlearned  and  poor 
and  have  little  power,  ^^  A  man's  a  man  for  a' 
that  and  a'  that.'' 

Because  this  is  the  ruling  belief  among  our 
own  people  this  nation  is  rapidly  becoming  a 
leading  power  in  the  world,  i:nd  is  the  hope  of 
the  oppressed  in  every  land. 

As  we  look  back  from  our  present  state  of 
freedom.  Feudalism  seems  to  be  wholl}^  bad. 
But  when  we  view  it  as  a  step  in  the  develop- 
ment of  human  government  from  that  state  in 
which  the  individual  acknowledged  no  authority 
superior  to  his  own  will,  which  prevailed  among 
the  Germans  in  early  times,  its  real  value  will  be 
discovered.  It*  was  the  first  attempt  to  organ- 
ize a  government  in  which  law  was  enforced  to 
secure  order.  It  was  an  order  that  reduced  the 
weak  to  servitude  but  it  was  a  step  toward  that 
higher  state  of  freedom  we  now  enjoy,  in  which 
just  laws  regulate  the  rights  and  duties  of  all 
classes. 


What  Was  Feudalism  f  8l 

SEARCH    AND    TEST    QUESTIONS. 

Describe  the  ceremony  of  doing  homage.  What  ga\'e  the  name 
feudalism  to  the  early  system  of  government?  To  whom  was  all 
the  land  supposed  to  belong?  How  did  the  tenants  pay  their  rent 
to  their  superiors?  What  had  to  be  paid  to  the  king?  How  did  the 
feudal  law  in  England  differ  from  that  on  the  continent?  What  dis- 
tinct classes  of  people  lived  in  England  during  the  feudal  period? 
Did  the  feudal  system  give  to  the  lower  order  any  right  that  the  higher 
orders  were  bound  to  respect?  For  how  long  did  it  prevail  in  Eng- 
land? 


VII. 

HOW  THE  COMMON  PEOPLE  LIVED. 

The  home  Ufe  of  the  Enghsh  people,  during 
the  leign  of  Wilham  the  Conqueror  and  for  sev- 
eral hundred  years  afterward  was  very  different 
from  what  it  is  now.  But  our  present  home 
life  has  grown  from  these  rude  beginnings  and 
it  will  be  well  for  us  to  make  some  study  of  the 
way  the  common  people  lived  850  years  ago. 

You  remember  that  when  William  had  con- 
quered England  he  declared  that  the  people  had 
committed  treason  who  had  supported  Harold 
the  Saxon,  and  that  their  lands  had  been  for- 
feited to  the  crown.  He  had  all  the  land  sur- 
veyed and  records  were  made  in  a  book  called 
Domes-day.  He  then  re-granted  the  land  to 
the  people  thus  making  them  his  tenants.  To 
each  landlord  he  assigned  a  large  estate,  to  a 
knight  a  less  amount,  and  to  a  common  freeman, 
or  churl,  a  much  smaller  quantity.  He  took 
large  estates  for  himself  in  different  parts  of 
England. 

The  people  were  divided  into  classes.  The 
lords  or  barons  were  the  class  next  to  the  king, 


How  the  Common  People  Lived  83 

who  must  pay  the  king  rent  by  bringing  soldiers 
to  support  him  in  his  wars  and  by  paying  money 
besides.  These  nobles  had  large  holdings  in 
different  parts  of  the  realm  which  they  culti- 
vated through  their  agents,  or  leased  to  other 
persons  for  money  or  for  service. 

Below  the  rank  of  freeman  there  was  a  class  of 
husbandmen  called  villeins — a  word  from  which 
our  word  villain  has  come.  But  these  villeins 
were  honest  folk  enough:  much  honester  than 
their  rulers,  no  doubt.  These  husbandmen  were 
half-slaves  and  half-free.  That  is,  they  could 
not  leave  their  homes  for  others  whenever  they 
chose,  nor  could  the  lord  of  the  manor  sell  them, 
nor  drive  them  from  their  homes.  They  belonged 
to  the  land.  They  were  obliged  to  work  about 
150  days  in  each  year  for  the  manor-lord  to  pay 
for  the  use  of  from  30  to  40  acres  of  plow-land, 
and  for  pasture  and  woodland  for  their  stock  and 
pigs,  and  for  their  fuel.  They  lived  in  a  little 
village  of  huts  built  on  a  lane  or  street.  At  the 
head  of  the  street  and  some  distance  from  the 
village  was  the  manor-house,  or  residence  of 
the  manor-lord  or  his  agent. 

The  land  of  these  husbandmen  was  divided 
among  them  in  a  peculiar  way.  If  we  suppose 
that  there  were  10  families  in  the  village,  then  the 
land  around  the  village  would  be  divided  into 
sections,  or  fields,  each  having  ten  strips  forty 


84  The  Norman  Kings 

rods  long  and  four  rods  wide.  There  would  be  as 
many  such  fields  as  would  give  to  each  farmer  his 
proper  amount  of  land,  which,  as  has  been  said, 
was  about  30  acres,  each  farmer  having  one 
strip  of  his  land  in  each  one  of  these  fields. 

It  is  probable  that  this  method  of  division 
was  followed  in  order  to  give  each  man  his  share 
of  the  good  land,  as  well  as  of  that  which  was  not 
so  fertile.  The  strips  were  separated  by  narrow 
strips  of  sod-ground  (^^balks^^  as  the  farmer  calls 
them)  which  were  the  only  fences  allowed.  From 
the  manor-house  the  village  and  fields  would  pre- 
sent something  of  the  appearance  of  a  large  spi- 
der's web,  the  village  being  in  the  centre.  These 
ten  farmers  must  all  cultivate  their  strips  in  the 
same  way.  Very  little  opportunity  was  given 
for  anyone  to  excel  his  neighbor  in  his  methods 
of  farming.  They  knew  nothing  about  enriching 
the  land.  All  they  knew  was  that  the  land  must 
rest,  and  it  was  the  practice  to  cultivate  each 
strip  every  other  year.  So  each  villein  would 
cultivate  only  half  of  his  land  each  year.  You 
can  see  that  a  careless  farmer,  who  allowed  weeds 
to  grow  upon  his  strips,  could  cause  much  harm 
to  others,  and  there  would  arise,  for  this  and 
other  reasons,  many  quarrels  among  neighbors 
that  would  not  make  life  in  the  village  supremely 
happy. 

They  had  the  simplest  and  rudest  farming 


How  the  Common  People  Lived  85 

tools — their  plows  being  made  mostly  of  wood, 
and  drawn  by  oxen.  (There  are  old  men  now 
living  who  can  remember  when  the  plows  used 
in  this  country  had  wooden  moleboards.)  These 
farmers  were  compelled  to  cultivate  their  fields 
at  such  times  as  they  were  not  required  to  work 
for  their  manor-lord.  They  worked  for  him 
about  three  days  each  week  throughout  the  en- 
tire year. 

You  learned  above  that  the  common  people 
were  of  three  classes.  Some  were  slaves,  who 
were  obliged  to  do  their  lord's  bidding  at  all 
times.  The  law  gave  them  little  protection. 
Some  were  comparatively  free  men  who  rented 
their  farms  from  the  manor-lord  or  the  king, 
paying  him  in  service,  or  in  products  of  the  farm, 
or  in  money.  But  most  of  them  came  in  time 
to  be  villeins  or  serfs,  whose  services  were  defi- 
nitely set  forth  in  the  laws  of  the  district  or 
county.  The  villein  in  Oxfordshire  who  had  a 
farm  of  thirty  acres  was  obliged  to  perform  the 
following  services  each  year  (or  pay  instead  the 
specified  amount  of  money  set  down  as  the  value 
of  each  item)  as  rent  for  his  land,  and  for  the 
protection  of  the  lord  against  robbers  who 
prowled  about  the  country,  waylaying  travelers 
and  robbing  homes  that  were  unprotected. 


The  Norman  Kings 


WORK   DONE   BY  THE    SERF  FOR  HIS   LORD. 

Shill'gs.    Pence. 
*82  days'  work  between  Michaelmas  (Sept.  29)  and  June 

24  valued  at  ^-penny  a  day 3  5 

Hi  days'  work  between  June  24  and  August  1  worth 

1  penny  per  day 1 1^ 

19  days'  work  between  Aug.  1  and  Michaelmas  worth 

1^  pence  per  day 2  4A 

6  extra  days,  bringing  another  man  to  help,  worth 12 

1  extra  day  with  2  men  for  reaping,  board  being  furnished.  .    2 

Half  cost  of  one  carriage  of  wheat 1 

Half  cost  of  one  carriage  of  hay 1 

Plowing  and  harrowing  1  acre G 

1  plowing  called  "groserthe" H 

1  day's  harrowing  of  oat-land 1 

1  horse  load  of  wood A 

Making  one  quarter  of  malt  and  drying  it 1 

1  day's  work  washing  and  shearing  sheep \ 

1  day's  noeing h 

3  days'  mowing.  . 6 

1  day's  nutting A 

1  day's  work  carrying  to  stock h 

ToUage  (tax)  once  a  year  at  the  lord's  will. 

You  see  from  this  that  a  farmer^s  life  in  early 
England  was  not  an  easy  one.  When  you  re- 
member that  in  addition  to  all  this  service  he 
must  cultivate  his  own  farm  for  food  and  cloth- 
ing for  himself  and  family,  there  was  Httle  time 
left  for  recreation  or  self -improvement. 

What  did  he  get  for  all  this  service? 

1 .     The  use  of  about  30  acres  of  plow-land. 


♦From  "Economics  and  Industrial  History,"  by  Henry  W.  Thurs- 
ton, from  which  volume  much  of  the  information  of  early  English 
methods  of  life  has  been  obtained. 


How  the  Common  People  Lived  87 

2.  The  use  of  grass-land  sufficient  for  hay 
for  his  cattle. 

3.  Pasture  land  on  the  commons  for  his  cat- 
tle in  summer. 

4.  Privilege  of  the  woods  in  which  his  hogs 
fattened  upon  the  nuts  and  roots. 

5.  Privilege  of  gathering  wood  from  the  for- 
est for  his  house  fires. 

In  addition  to  all  the  other  exactions  the  far- 
mer could  not  sell  an  ox  or  a  sheep  without  mak- 
ing a  present  to  the  lord,  nor  give  his  daughter 
in  marriage  without  paying  the  lord  for  his  con- 
sent. 

There  was  one  compensation  for  this  slavish 
service.  The  farmer  was  reasonably  sure  of  a 
home,  and  of  food,  clothing,  shelter,  and  protec- 
tion for  his  family.  By  attending  strictly  to 
business  he  need  not  starve,  nor  perish  from 
eold. 


SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  was  King  William's  ground  for  claiming  that  all  the  land 
of  Englishmen  who  opposed  his  invasion  belonged  to  him?  What 
was  the  Domes-day  book?  How  did  he  bind  the  common  people 
to  him?  Into  what  classes  were  the  people  divided?  How  was  the 
land  divided  among  the  villeins?  How  much  land  did  each  farmer 
have?  How  much  of  the  time  could  he  work  for  himself?  Where 
was  the  manor-house  located?  How  much  land  did  each  laborer 
work  for  himself  each  year?  If  he  had  paid  his  rent  in  money  how 
much  would  it  have  amounted  to?  What  was  his  chief  compensa- 
tion for  his  hard  fate? 


THE  PLANTAGENET  KINGS, 

1154—1485. 


VIII. 

HENRY  II. 

1154  —  1189. 

It  was  nearly  seventy  years  (67)  after  William 
the  Conqueror  died  that  Henry  II.  became  king. 
He  was  the  greatgrandson  of  the  great  William 
on  his  mother ^s  side,  who  was  a  Saxon  princess. 
His  grandfather,  Henry  I., who  was  the  son  of  the 
Conqueror,  won  much  favor  from  the  English 
people  by  choosing  his  wife  from  the  Saxon 
ladies  of  rank.  But  he  greatly  offended  the 
Norman  barons  by  this  choice. 

This  was  the  period  when  there  was  a  wide  so- 
cial gulf  between  the  Normans  and  the  English. 
The  Normans  despised  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and 
the  latter  hated  and  feared  the  Normans.  Henry 
I.,  and  later  his  grandson  Henry  II.,  tried  to 
treat  with  even-handed  justice  both  Normans 
and  Saxons,  and  to  encourage  a  feeling  of  f riend- 

88 


Henry  II  89 

ship  between  them.  So  it  came  to  pass  that 
when  the  Norman  barons  united  in  rebellion 
against  the  king,  the  Englishmen  came  to  his 
defense  and  reduced  the  rebels  to  submission. 

Henry  I.  pleased  the  people  still  more  by 
granting  to  them  certain  rights  and  privileges 
which  he  wrote  down  in  the  form  of  an  agree- 
ment, or  charter,  and  signed  with  his  great  seal 
on  his  coronation  day.  This  was  the  first  writ- 
ten charter  or  constitution  that  had  ever  been 
granted  by  an  English  king  to  his  subjects. 

When  kings  afterward  sought  to  disregard  the 
agreement  signed  by  Henry  I.  the  people  in- 
sisted that  they  should  make  and  sign  a  new 
charter  similar  to  the  old  one.  Finally  the 
rights  granted  by  these  charters  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  kingdom. 

Henry  I.  is  known  in  history  as  Henry  Beau- 
clerk,  or  ^The  Fine  Scholar, '^  because  he  was 
able  to  read  and  write.  Indeed,  his  father  had 
given  him  the  best  education  that  the  great 
schools  of  Europe  afforded. 

The  father  of  Henry  H.  was  Geoffrey,  Duke 
of  Anjou.  Anjou  was  a  province  in  France. 
Geoffrey's  wife,  the  mother  of  Henry  II.,  was 
Matilda,  the  daughter  of  Henry  I.  Henry  II., 
was  therefore  English  on  his  mother's  side  and 
French  on  the  side  of  his  father.  History  tells 
us  that  Geoffrey  was  accustomed  to  wear  a  sprig 


90 


The  Plantagenet  Kings 


of  the  broom  plant  (planta  genista)  stuck  in  his 
helmet  as  a  plume.  By  this  he  came  to  be  known 
as  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  or  Geoffrey  Broom- 
Plant. 

For  this  reason  Henry 
II.  is  known  in  history  as 
the  first  of  the  Planta- 
genet Kings. 

It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  in  these  early 
times  many  people  re- 
ceived their  names  or 
surnames  from  their  oc- 
cupation or  from  some 
personal  peculiarity  or 
relationship  that  distin- 
guished them  from  others ; 
such  as  Smith,  Brown, 
Black,  Weaver,  Smith-son,  John-son,  Coeur-de- 
Lion,  etc.  (The  chiefs  and  warriors  among  the 
American  Indians  have  for  a  long  time  re- 
ceived their  names  in  a  similar  way.) 

In  these  olden  times  it  was  a  badge  of  distinc- 
tion for  a  man  to  have  a  surname.  The  knight, 
Ivanhoe,  in  Walter  Scott's  great  novel  had  but 
one  name.  Thomas  a'  Becket  seems  to  have 
been  known  at  first  as  Thomas.  His  father's 
name  was  Becket.  Later  Thomas  came  to  be 
distinguished  from  other  Thomases  as  Becket 's 


A  SPRIG  OF 
BROOM  PLANT. 


Henry  II  91 

Thomas,  or  Thomas  of  Becket,  or  Thomas  a^ 
Becket.  Now  historians  call  him  Thomas 
Becket. 

Henry  II.  brought  his  father^s  surname 
with  him  to  England,  and  he  and  his  successors 
for  more  than  300  years  were  known  as  the  Plan- 
tagenet  Kings.  Their  reign  is  called  the  Plan- 
tagenet  dynasty.  Later  historians  are  now  call- 
ing this  period  of  331  years  the  Angevine  rule, 
from  Anjou,  the  native  country  of  Henry  II. 
They  seem  to  think  the  birthplace  of  King  Henry 
more  worthy  to  give  name  to  the  d^masty  than 
the  sprig  of  broom  in  a  Frenchman's  helmet. 

When  Henry  came  to  t^he  throne  a  power  had 
grown  up  in  England,  and  on  the  continent, 
that  was  even  greater  than  the  power  of  kings. 
This  was  the  church.  CBy  the  Church  is  meant 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  of  which  the  Pope  is 
the  head.)  In  fact,  throughout  the  continent 
of  Europe  there  were  in  every  nation  two  dis- 
tinct governments,  each  making  its  own  laws, 
having  its  own  courts,  and  pvmishing  or  reward- 
ing its  own  subjects.  The  one  known  as  the 
State  was  different  in  different  countries;  the 
other,  the  Church,  or  Ecclesiastical  Government, 
was  the  same  in  all.  The  bishops  and  archbish- 
ops of  the  Catholic  Church  were  the  rulers  of 
the  church  in  every  country.  We  see,  therefore, 
that  the  people  were  divided  into  two  classes 


92  *        The  Plantagenet  Kings 

known  as  churchmen  and  laity.  The  bishops, 
and  priests,  and  teachers,  and  all  persons  who 
did  service  of  p.ny  kind  for  these  were  church- 
men. Of  these  there  was  a  great  multitude.  If 
a  churchman  violated  the  laws  of  the  king's  gov- 
ernment, the  bishops  declared  that  he  could  not 
be  punished  by  the  state  courts,  but  only  by  ec- 
clesiastical or  church  courts.  The  laity  \Yere 
all  the  people  not  so  employed,  although  they 
were  members  of  the  church. 

The  church  taught  the  people  religion;  it 
was  the  seat  of  all  learning;  it  was  the  friend  of 
the  poor  and  helped  those  in  distress;  its  mis- 
sion was  one  of  love  and  helpfulness. 

The  kings  and  their  officers  were  often  cruel 
and  ignorant;  many  of  the  lords  and  knights 
could  not  read,  and  this  was  often  true  of  the 
kings  themselves.  The  common  people,  of 
course,  were  densely  ignorant.  But  the  kings 
of  England  believed,  and  acted  upon  the  belief 
(when  they  were  strong  enough),  that  all  offend- 
ers against  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  should  be 
tried  in  the  king's  courts,  and  punished  by  the 
king's  officers  if  found  guilty.  This  was  the 
only  way,  they  declared,  in  which  justice  could 
be  meted  out  to  all  alike. 

The  story  of  Thomas  a'  Becket  is  an  interest- 
ing one  and  shows  the  great  power  of  the  church 
at  this  time. 


Henry  II  93 

Thomas  was  the  son  of  a  former  mayor  of 
London.  Both  his  father  and  mother  were  Nor- 
mans. Thomas  was  an  only  child  and  his  father 
2:ave  him  the  best  opportunities  for  an  educa- 
tion that  the  times  afforded.  He  studied  in  the 
London  schools  of  highest  repute,  became  a 
proficient  in  all  the  feats  and  graces  of  chivalry 
under  the  tuition  of  a  chivalrous  knight,  and 
then  entered  the  University  of  Paris  to  study 
theology.  He  did  not  become  a  great  scholar, 
much  less  a  learned  theologian.  But  his  mind 
was  active  and  vigorous  and  his  manners  cap- 
tivating to  his  associates  and  popular  with  peo- 
ple in  general.  He  began  life  in  a  lawyer ^s 
office,  where  he  worked  for  three  years.  His 
father  failed  in  business,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  make  his  own  way.  But  his  accomplishments 
were  varied  and  the  office  was  abandoned  for 
something  that  promised  a  higher  and  more  im- 
mediate preferment  than  he  could  obtain  by  the 
practice  of  law.  His  cleverness  attracted  a  power- 
ful bishop,  named  Theobold,  who  trained  him 
for  the  priesthood.  King  Henry  II.,  while  yet 
a  very  young  man,  came  to  know  and  appreciate 
the  talents  of  Thomas,  and  chose  him  for  his 
prime  minister.  He  soon  proved  to  be  one  of 
the  ablest  statesmen  in  Europe,  and  Henry  be- 
stowed great  honors  upon  him  and  wealth  sec- 
ond only  to  that  of  the  king.     He  and   Henry 


94  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

were  bosom  friends,  and  Becket  was  loyal  to 
every  wish  of  his  sovereign.  Ere  long  Henry 
conceived  the  idea  of  resisting  the  power  of  the 
church,  and  to  secure  his  end  he  made  Thomas 
archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Some  say  that  he 
did  this  against  the  protest  of  Becket  himself, 
who  preferred  to  be  prime  minister,  and  that 
Becket  warned  Henry  that  if  he  became  a  church- 
man they  should  quarrel  about  the  rights  of  the 
church.  When  he  was  made  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury his  whole  character  seemed  suddenly  to 
change.  He  became  the  austere  priest,  tortured 
himself  by  wearing  a  shirt  made  of  hair,  and 
sought  only  to  advance  the  power  and  extend 
the  privileges  of  the  church.  As  prime  minister 
he  had  insisted  that  both  churchmen  and  laity 
must  be  tried  by  the  state  courts  for  offences 
against  the  laws  of  the  state.  Now,  after  he 
had  become  archbishop,  he  declared  that  church- 
men were  not  subject  to  the  king's  court,  but  to 
the  ecclesiastical  courts.  He  soon  became  the 
king's  strongest  opponent  in  every  attempt  he 
made  to  weaken  the  power  and  independence 
of  the  church.  He  sought  in  every  way  to  en- 
rich the  church  at  the  expense  of  the  barons. 

Once  King  Henry,  who  was  at  the  time  in 
France,  in  a  moment  of  angry  impatience  be- 
cause of  some  act  of  disloyalty  of  his  archbishop, 
cried  out  in  the  presence  of  his  nobles,  'Will  no 


Henry  II 


95 


one  deliver  me  from  this  base-born  priest?^' 
Four  of  the  knights,  who  hated  the  archbishop, 
immediately  set  out  for  England,  and  pursuing 
Becket  into  the  cathedral  of  Canterbury,  mur- 
dered him  at  the  very  altar.  This  was  a  most 
heinous  offense  against  both  the  state  and  the 


HENRY   DOING   PENANCE. 


church.  To  atone  for  his  angry  words  King 
Henry,  at  that  time  one  of  the  most  powerful 
monarchs  in  Europe,  was  compelled  to  do  the 
most  humiliating  penance. 

Dressed  in  the  clothes  of  the  humblest  citizen, 
he  walked  barefoot,  in  the  presence  of  the  court 


96  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

and  of  the  people,  to  Canterbury  Cathedral,  and 
kneeling  at  the  grave  of  Thomas  a'  Becket,  the 
bishops,  each  in  turn,  scourged  him  with  a  whip 
upon  his  bare  back.  He  then  threw  himself 
upon  the  grave  of  Becket  and  lay  there  all  night, 
presumably  in  prayer  for  forgiveness.  It  is  not 
probable,  however,  that  his  heart  was  so  sore 
over  the  death  of  his  enemy  as  his  actions  would 
imply.  But  these  acts  of  his  show  how  strong 
was  the  church  in  England  only  750  years  ago, 
since  it  could  compel  one  of  the  proudest  and 
most  powerful  of  kings  to  so  humble  himself  in 
order  to  atone  for  a  few  angry  words  spoken 
against  one  of  his  own  subjects. 

The  manner  of  Becket  ^s  death  and  his  loyalty 
to  the  church  caused  him  to  be  proclaimed  a 
saint  by  the  pope,  and  to  be  honored  as  a  martyr 
by  the  people.  Rags  stained  with  his  blood 
were  among  the  most  sacred  relics,  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  made  pilgrimages  to  his  tomb, 
where,  it  was  believed,  miracles  of  healing  the 
sick,  and  giving  sight  to  the  blind,  and  many 
other  wonders,  were  worked  by  the  spirit  of 
Saint  Thomas,  who  continued  for  many  years 
to  be  the  most  popular  saint  in  England. 

The  poet  Chaucer,  the  father  of  English  poetry 
wrote  some  poems  called  Canterbury  Tales, 
which  describe  one  of  these  pilgrimages. 

Henry  II.,  like  his  grandfather,  Henry  I.,  was 


•     Henry  11  07 

of  great  service  to  England,  because  he  sought 
to  estabhsh  laws  by  which  the  common  people 
should  be  protected  from  the  tyranny  of  the  bar- 
ons and  from  such  rulers  as  Stephen,  the  imme- 
diate predecessor  of  Henry  II.,  who  was  a  weak 
king.  During  Stephen ^s  reign  the  laws  were  not 
enforced,  and  disorder  prevailed  everywhere. 
The  will  of  the  barons,  or  of  the  king,  was  the 
only  law.  Stephen  was  king  for  nineteen  years 
after  the  death  of  Henry  I.,  and  during  this 
period  hatred  between  the  English  and  the 
barons  revived. 

Henry  II.  changed  all  this,  and  under  his  reign 
the  animosity  between  Saxons  and  Normans  be- 
gan again  to  disappear,  and  the  people  began  to 
unite  into  one  nation  which  was  neither  Nor- 
man nor  Saxon,  but  English.  Under  this  king 
the  English  nation,  as  we  now  know  it,  was  born, 
for  Henry  II.  established  a  form  of  government 
whose  laws  were  made  by  ])arliament  and  the  king, 
and  not  by  the  king  alone,  nor  alone  by  the  bar- 
ons who  governed  their  own  subjects.  But  his 
parliament  was  chosen  by  himself,  and  not  by 
the  people. 

The  reign  of  Henry  II.  was,  like  that  of  his 
grandfather  Henry  I.,  a  long  and  prosperous 
one  to  England.  Each  reigned  thirty-five  (35) 
years.  Henry  died  in  1189  disappointed  and 
sorrowful  because  of  the  undutiful  conduct  of  his 


98  The  Plantagenef  Kings 

rebellious  sons,  and  after  having  begun  reforms 
in  the  government  that  have  given  him  a  place 
in  history  among  her  greatest  rulers. 

Some  of  the  most  important  of  these  reforms 
were: 

1.  He  provided  for  courts  to  be  presided 
over  by  learned  and  just  judges.  These  courts 
were  held  in  different  parts  of  England  at  fixed 
periods  and  open  to  all  classes  of  people.  Be- 
fore this  was  done  the  barons  were  the  judges 
and  often  decided  cases  in  favor  of  those  who 
gave  them  the  largest  bribe.  The  decisions  of 
these  king^s  courts  were  the  beginning  of  the 
common  law  of  England. 

2.  He  struck  the  feudal  system  a  fatal  blow 
by  ordering  that  the  barons  pay  a  certain  amount 
of  money  as  a  war  tax,  instead  of  joining  the 
king  in  his  wars  with  the  number  of  soldiers  re- 
quired of  them  by  the  feudal  law.  Why  would 
this  weaken  the  power  of  the  barons? 

3.  These  reforms  developed  in  time  into  a 
representative  form  of  government  in  which  a 
parliament  chosen  by  the  people  gave  aid  to  the 
king  in  making  the  laws. 

4.  Henry  II.  stood  stoutly  for  the  supremacy 
of  the  state  courts  over  the  church  courts  in  all 
cases  of  crime  against  society.  His  conflict 
with  Thomas  Becket  is  said  to  have  arisen  from 
the  refusal  of  Becket  to  surrender  a  churchman, 


Henry  II  99 

guilty  of  murder,  to  the  king's  officers  to  be  tried 
and  punished  by  the  king's  court.  The  murder 
of  Becket  compelled  King  Henry  to  yield  this 
right  to  the  church  for  a  time  on  pain  of  expul- 
sion if  he  refused.  The  death  of  Becket,  there- 
fore, greatly  strengthened  the  power  of  the 
church  in  England  beyond  what  it  was  at  the 
death  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  this  power 
steadily  increased  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

5.  Henry  II.  was  the  first  to  give  to  a  grand 
jury  of  twelve  men  the  authority  to  present  those 
charged  with  crime  for  trial.  This  trial  was  not 
like  ours,  but  consisted  of  tests  in  which  God  was 
supposed  to  intervene  to  protect  the  innocent. 
If  the  accused  could  hold  a  red-hot  iron  in  his 
hand,  or  could  walk  barefooted  on  burning  coals 
without  being  burned,  or  would  sink  when 
thrown  into  the  water  (to  float  on  the  water  was 
proof  of  guilt),  or  could  do  certain  other  improb- 
able things,  the  court  declared  that  he  was  inno- 
cent of  the  crime  of  which  he  was  accused. 

Henry  II.  appointed  a  treasurer  to  receive  the 
taxes,  fees,  fines,  etc.,  from  those  who  collected 
them,  and  which  made  up  a  large  part  of  the 
king's  revenue.  The  settlements  between  the 
sheriffs  of  the  counties  and  the  treasurer  were 
made  at  a  table  covered  with  squares  like  a 
checkerboard.  These  squares  were  used  in  esti- 
mating the  amount  due,  and  also  in  counting  out 


100  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

the  money  received.  People  knew  very  little 
about  arithmetic  in  this  early  time.  This  check- 
er table  received  the  name  of  exchecker,  or  ex- 
chequer, as  it  was  then  spelled,  and  the  treasury 
office  of  England  is  called  the  English  Exchequer 
to  this  day.  The  clerks  or  secretaries  were  called 
chancellors  (from  a  Latin  word  which  means  a 
screen,  behind  which  the  clerk  sat  when  at  work.) 
And  so  the  English  now  have  a  Lord  Chancellor, 
or  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  or  Clerk  (or  Lord)  of  the  Treasury. 

Judges  were  appointed  to  travel  from  one  town 
to  another,  to  settle  disputes  and  try  criminals; 
but  the  king  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  select 
such  as  would  resist  bribes. 

Because  of  the  dishonesty  of  some  of  these 
judges  the  king  allowed  the  people  to  appeal  to 
him  for  redress. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 
How  was  Henry  II.  related  to  William  the  Conqueror?  How  did 
he  receive  the  name  of  Plantagenet?  What  was  his  family  relation 
to  Henry  I.?  To  William  the  Conqueror?  What  is  another 
name  for  the  Plantagenet  dynasty?  Why  more  appropriate?  How 
long  did  the  family  of  Henry  II.  rule  in  England?  What  two  gov- 
ernments were  carried  on  side  by  side  in  England  during  this  period? 
What  distinguished  a  churchman  from  a  layman  ?  Who  was  Thomas 
Becket?  Tell  the  story  of  his  quarrel  with  the  king  and  of  his  death. 
Tell  the  story  of  the  king's  punishment  by  the  church.  Where,  in 
England,  is  the  Canterbury  Cathedral?  Why  did  so  many  people 
visit  the  tomb  of  Thomas  Becket?  What  did  Henry  II.  do  to  make 
a  better  government  in  England?  How  was  it  determined  at  this 
time  whether  a  man  was  guilty  of  a  crime  charged  against  him? 
What  was  the  duty  of  Henry's  grand  jury?  Compare  it  with  the 
duty  of  a  grand  jury  to-day. 


INDOOR  LIFE  OF  THE  BARONS. 

At  the  time  of  the  Norman  conquest  the  man- 
ner of  life  of  the  EngHsh  people  was  very  rude, 
even  among  the  highest  classes.  The  dress  of 
the  wealthiest  was  plain  and  made  of  coarse  and 
poor  material.  The  Normans  dressed  in  better 
style,  and  had  acquired  a  culture  from  tbeir  con- 
tact with  the  French  and  the  Romans  that  made 
them  look  with  disdain  upon  those  whom  they 
considered  an  inferior  race.  But  the  homes  of 
these  were  rudely  constructed  and  poorly  fur- 
nished, even  when  compared  with  those  of  many 
wage-earners  of  the  present  time. 

The  Normans  built  manor-houses  and  castles 
in  all  parts  of  England.  The  latter  were  for 
protection  against  foes.  The  manor-houses  were 
the  homes  of  .the  barons  or  knights.  The  king, 
as  you  have  learned,  preferred  to  grant  several 
estates  in  different  parts  of  England  to  a  great 
lord,  rather  than  to  give  him  the  same  amount 
of  l^nd  in  one  place.  This  plan  gave  the  barons 
less  local  influence  and  less  power.     The  castles 

101 


102 


The  Plantagenet  Kings 


were  not  intended  for  homes  but  for  forts,  to  be 
occupied  by  soldiers.  But  these  castles  were 
used  as  dwellings  by  the  nobles  and  their  re- 
tainers in  times  of  danger.  King  William  is  said 
to  have  owned  forty-nine  castles  in  different 
parts  of  England.  Fifty  others  were  owned 
by  the  barons. 

The  castles  that  were  first  built  were  very  in- 


MANOR-HOUSE. 


f  erior  to  those  erected  a  hundred  years  later.  The 
ruins  of  the  latter  show  them  to  have  been  forts 
of  great  strength.  In  the  story  of  Ivanhoe,  by 
Walter  Scott,  will  be  found  a  description  of  one 
of  these. 

The  home  life  of  even  these  cultured  barons 
was  very  rude,  when  judged  by  present  stS,nd- 
ards.     There  was  one  large  room  in  each  manor- 


Indoor  Life  of  the  Barons  103 

house  that  was  used  for  many  dijfferent  pur- 
poses. It  was  the  dining-room  for  the  lord 
and  all  his  retainers.  The  table  was  made 
of  boards  laid  on  trestles,  and  often  extended 
from  one  end  of  this  long  hall  to  the  other. 
At  the  head  of  the  table  sat  the  lord,  and  on 
either  side  his  family  and  guests.  The  master 
sat  where  everything  that  occurred  at  table 
could  be  seen  by  him.  Between  this  group  of 
gentle  folk  and  the  retainers  a  very  large  salt- 
cellar was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  table. 
Those  who  sat  below  the  salt  were  of  lower  rank. 
The  nearer  to  the  salt  these  dependents  sat  the 
higher  was  their  station.  The  meal  consisted 
chiefly  of  meat  and  bread,  with  some  leeks,  or 
onions,  or  peas,  or  beans,  or,  sometimes,  cabbage. 
Potatoes  were  unknown  at  that  time.  Those  be- 
low the  salt  drank  water.  The  gentry  drank 
home-brewed  ale  or  cider.  Tea  and  coffee  were 
not  known  in  England,  and  sugar  was  a  luxury 
for  the  richest  and  seldom  tasted  by  the  poor. 
Not  until  the  time  of  Henry  11.  was  wine  im- 
ported from  France,  from  the  vinej^ards  owned 
by  the  king.  It  was  used  only  by  the  wealthy. 
The  food  was  served  on  slices  of  bread  instead 
of  plates,  one  slice  to  every  two  persons.  These 
pieces  of  bread  were  called  trenchers.  Upon 
each  trencher  was  a  piece  of  meat  and  some  one 
of  the  vegetables  mentioned  above. 


104  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

Later  they  used  wooden  trenchers.  Forks 
were  unknown,  and  the  hunting-knife  or  dagger 
suppHed  the  needs  of  those  who  wished  to  use 
something  more  than  fingers  and  teeth.  Even 
many  years  later  it  was  thought  by  some  pious 
people  to  be  wicked  to  use  forks.  They  thought 
that  if  God  had  intended  man  to  use  such  things 
he  would  have  made  them  for  him. 

When  the  evening  meal,  or  dinner,  was  fin- 
ished, the  table  was  taken  down,  the  boards  and 
trestles  removed,  and  the  evening  entertain- 
ment began.  This  consisted  of  feats  of  skill  by 
jugglers,  songs  by  wandering  minstrels,  or  danc- 
ing and  wrestling  matches.  Most  of  the  retain- 
ers sat  around  the  wall  on  the  floor.  There  were 
no  chairs,  and  a  few  rude  benches  having  cush- 
ions stuffed  with  straw  served  as  seats  for  the 
^'quality  folks. '^  On  hooks  and  pegs  upon  the 
walls  were  hung  buckets,  scythes,  baskets,  empty 
sacks,  deer's  heads,  boars-heads,  bows  and  ar- 
rows, spears,  swords,  axes  and  the  like. 

When  the  entertainment  was  over  the  gentle 
folk  retired  to  rooms  furnished  with  rude  beds  of 
straw,  without  sheets  or  blankets.  The  clothes 
they  wore  during  the  day  were  all  they  had  to 
keep  them  warm  during  the  night.  The  retain- 
ers covered  the  floor  of  the  dining-hall  with 
straw,  which  served  as  a  common  bed  for  all. 

It  was  200  years  after  the  conquest  before  fire- 


Indoor  Life  of  the  Barons  105 

places  with  chimneys  were  in  use  in  either  castles 
or  manors.  There  was  a  place  for  fire  with  a 
hole  in  the  roof  above  for  the  smoke  to  escape. 

When  these  discomforts  were  endured  by  the 
rich,  what  must  have  been  the  condition  of  the 
poor?  Their  huts  were  made  of  sticks  and 
daubed  with  clay,  inside  and  out.  Glass  was 
unknown,  and  fuel  expensive.  Salt  was  poor 
and  very  dear.  Much  of  the  food  was  in  a  partial 
state  of  decay,  and  was  the  source  of  the  prevail- 
ing diseases.  When  the  black  death  came  there 
is  no  wonder  that  half  the  population  of  England 
became  its  victims,  for  cleanliness  was  known 
to  but  few. 

The  out-of-door  amusements  and  sports  were 
hunting  and  hawking  for  the  rich,  and  wrestling, 
running,  leaping,  quoit-throwing,  and  the  like, 
for  those  to  whom  hunting  was  forbidden.  In- 
door games  of  chess,  checkers,  and  dice-throwing 
were  in  use  during  the  reign  of  William,  but  cards 
were  unknown  until  200  years  later.  The  harp 
and  the  lute,  or  guitar,  were  the  instruments  of 
music,  and  many  of  the  nobility  became  pro- 
ficient in  the  use  of  them.  King  Richard  the 
Lion-Heart ed,  the  great-great-grandson  of  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror,  was  a  musician  of  great 
skill  in  singing  and  in  playing  upon  both  the 
harp  and  the  lute. 


106  The  Plantagenet  Kings 


SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  was  a  manor-house?  A  castle?  Why  would  not  King 
William  permit  the  great  lords  to  have  their  land  all  in  one  place? 
Describe  the  indoor  life  of  the  barons  and  their  retainers.  What  was 
their  principal  food?  Who  sat  below  the  salt  at  table?  What  were 
the  evening  entertainments  and  games?  Why  did  they  not  play 
at  cards?  What  was  the  drink  of  the  common  people?  Why  must 
the  homes  have  been  uncomfortable  in  winter?  What  was  a  tren- 
cher? Why  so  called?  Why  were  not  the  lower  classes  allowed  to 
kill  game?    What  was  hawking?     What  were  the  out-door  sports? 


X. 

RICHARD  I. 

1189  —  1199. 

England  had  been  ruled  by  foreign  kings  since 
the  invasion  by  William  the  Conqueror — 123 
years.  Those  who  preceded  Henry  II.  were  Nor- 
mans, but  Henry  was  a  Frenchman.  He  had 
spent  his  life  in  France  at  the  court  of  his  father, 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,  who  had  little  in  common 
with  such  men  as  Duke  William  of  Normandy, 
or  with  Englishmen.  Richard,  who  was  Henry ^s 
oldest  living  son,  received  the  English  crown  on 
the  death  of  his  father  (1 189) .  He  knew  hardly 
anything  about  the  English  people,  and  could 
not  even  talk  with  them  in  their  own  language. 
But  he  was  an  ideal  knight  of  the  time,  chival- 
rous, generous,  brave,  and  forgiving  when  in 
an  amiable  mood,  but  passionate,  tyrannical, 
and  cruel  in  his  fits  of  anger.  His  deeds  of 
valor  became  the  wonder  of  the  world,  and  they 
made  him  the  idol  of  the  English  people. 

When  he  was  made  a  knight  he  took  oath  ^^to 
be  loyal  to  the  king,  to  defend  the  church,  and  to 

107 


108  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

render  aid  to  every  lady  in  distress/'  On  tak- 
ing the  oath  the  king,  his  father,  had  struck 
him  on  the  shoulder  with  the  flat  of  his  sword, 
as  Richard  knelt  before  him,  and  had  said,  ^^In 
the  name  of  God,  St.  Michael,  and  St.  George,  I 
dub  thee  knight.     Be  brave,  ready,  and  loyal.'' 

Richard  was  ever  brave  and  ready  but  never 
loyal.  He  and  his  brother  John  rebelled  against 
their  father,  helped  France  to  defeat  him  in 
battle,  and  by  this  disloyalty  broke  their  fa- 
ther's heart.  When  Henry  heard  of  John's  un- 
expected treachery,  he  turned  his  face  to  the 
wall  and  said:  ^^Now  let  things  go  as  they 
will;  I  care  no  more  for  myself  or  the  world" — 
and  so  he  died,  muttering,  '^  Shame,  shame  on  a 
conquered  king." 

Richard's  first  act,  after  his  coronation,  was 
to  prepare  to  join  France  and  Austria  in  a  cru- 
sade for  the  capture  of  Jerusalem. 

These  crusades  were  military  expeditions 
undertaken  at  different  times  during  a  period 
of  about  two  hundred  years.  They  began  in 
this  wise : 

A  Christian  monk,  known  among  his  fellow 
monks  as  Peter  the  Hermit,  went  on  a  pilgrim- 
age to  the  Holy  Land  to  worship  at  the  tomb  of 
the  Saviour.  Jerusalem  was  then  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Turks,  who  were  Mohammedans. 
The  Mohammedans  and  Christians  were  deadly 


Richard  /•  109 

enemies  and  often  at  war.  '  Peter  suffered  much 
from  the  cruelty  of  the  Turks  on  his  pilgrimage. 
He  returned  filled  with  indignation  that  the 
tomb  of  his  Saviour  should  be  in  the  hands  of  in- 
fidels. The  people  regarded  pilgrims  to  the  Holy 
City  as  very  holy  men,  and  resented  injury  to 
them  as  a  crime  against  their  religion  and  an 
insult  to  their  Divine  Master. 

Soon  after  his  return,  Peter  began  to  exhort 
men  everywhere  to  join  in  a  great  army  and 
drive  the  infidels  out  of  Jerusalem.  (1094.) 
It  was  the  beginning  of  the  first  crusade.  (It 
was  called  crusade  because  every  soldier  wore 
on  his  breast  the  sign  of  the  cross,  or  ^^crux,"  as 
it  was  then  called.)  This  was  about  thirty  years 
after  William  the  Conqueror  invaded  England. 
This  crusade  was  disastrous  to  Peter  and  his  fol- 
lowers, who  expected  God  to  protect  them  from 
famine  and  the  Turks,  and  so  did  not  prepare 
to  defend  themselves. 

A  second  crusade  was  more  successful.  The 
Holy  City  was  finally  taken  by  the  Christians 
who  held  it  for  many  years.  But  it  was  re- 
taken by  the  Turks  about  two  years  before  Rich- 
ard became  king.  This  was  nearly  one  hundred 
years  after  Peter  preached  the  first  crusade.  At 
this  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  great 
events  moved  slowly. 

Richard  prepared  for  the  crusade  by  raising 


110  The  Pl'antagenet  Kings 

large  sums  of  money  from  his  English  subjects. 
He  taxed  them  very  heavily,  sold  privileges  of 
free  trade  and  free  government  to  cities  and 
towns,  and  bestowed  offices  in  the  church  and  in 
the  government  upon  the  highest  bidder.  With 
the  large  sums  thus  obtained  he  hired  an  army 
of  soldiers,  equipped  them  in  great  splendor,  and 
joined  Philip,  king  of  France,  and  Leopold, 
grand  duke  of  Austria,  at  Sicily,  whence  the 
three  armies  set  sail  for  Palestine. 

But  the  fiery  Richard  could  not  live  in  peace 
with  two  other  sovereigns  who  thought  them- 
selves his  equals.  He  soon  quarreled  with  Philip, 
who  withdrew  with  his  whole  army,  and  re- 
turned home,  leaving  Richard  to  prosecute  the 
war  without  his  aid.  Then  he  made  a  mortal 
enemy  of  Duke  Leopold,  by  tearing  down  Leo- 
pold's banner,  which  had  been  raised  upon  the 
walls  of  a  captured  town,  and  putting  his  own 
in  its  place.  He  declared  that  a  king's  standard 
had  precedence  over  a  duke's.  The  Duke  of 
Austria  then  went  home  with  his  soldiers  and 
Richard  was  left  alone.  His  personal  deeds 
of  valor  and  skill  as  a  general  made  him  the  hero 
of  this  crusade,  and  gave  to  him  the  name  of 
Coeur-de-Lion  (Lion  Heart).  He  was  well 
named,  for  he  ha'd  both  the  courage  and  cruelty 
of  a  lion.  But  his  army  was  too  small  to  make 
his  own  courage  of  much  avail  in  a  war  against 


Richard  I 


111 


RICHARD  LANDING  IN  PALESTINE, 


11^  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

Saladin,  an  equally  brilliant  warrior  and  the 
hero  of  the  Turks,  whose  army  greatly  outnum- 
bered that  of  Richard.  He  made  peace  with 
the  Turks,  on  condition  that,  for  three  years, 
three  months,  three  weeks  and  three  days  free 
and  safe  pilgrimage  should  be  given  to  all  Chris- 
tians who  sought  the  Holy  Sepulcher. 

This  seems  a  small  return  for  all  the  lives  and 
treasure  that  were  sacrificed  in  this  war.  Richr- 
ard  gained  the  glory  for  which  he  hungered,  but 
it  was  tarnished  by  the  conviction  of  both  his 
friends  and  foes  that  his  own  pride  and  inordi- 
nate selfishness  were  the  cause  of  the  failure  of 
the  great  enterprise.  He  abandoned  his  army 
to  return  as  best  it  could,  and  set  sail  for  Eng- 
land, where  his  brother  John  was  seeking  to  rob 
him  of  his  throne.  His  boat  was  wrecked  in  a 
storm,  and  he  was  cast  upon  the  shore  of  Duke 
Leopold's  dominions,  with  but  a  single  com- 
panion. He  attempted  to  make  his  way  in  dis- 
guise as  a  minstrel  and  on  foot,  but  was  discov- 
ered through  the  indiscretion  of  his  companion, 
arrested,  and  thrown  into  a  dungeon  in  a  lonely 
castle,  where  he  was  imprisoned  for  more  than 
a  year. 

(There  is  a  story  that  Blondel,  his  devoted 
Mend,  sought  to  discover  the  place  of  his  im- 
prisonment by  singing  songs  under  the  walls 
of  many  castles  in  Leopold's  dominions.     His 


Richard  1  113 

perseverance  and  devotion  were  finally  rewarded 
by  hearing  the  voice  of  Richard  take  up  the  song 
and  sing  it  through  to  the  end.  Blondel  imme- 
diately returned  to  England  with  the  glad  news 
that  Richard  was  yet  alive.  After  a  time  the 
Emperor  Charles  of  Germany,  offered  to  set  him 
free  for  a  great  ransom.  The  money  was  raised 
by  the  English,  who  idolized  their  hero,  and 
Richard  was  set  at  liberty.  When  he  was  free 
King  Philip  of  France  wrote  to  John,  'The  devil 
is  loose;  take  care  of  yourself.^'  It  was  needful 
that  Richard  should  also  take  care  of  himself 
to  escape  the  assassins  that  John  set  on  his 
track.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  story  of  Ivan- 
hoe,  tells  how  secret  was  Richard^s  return  to 
England,  and  also  gives  an  account  of  the  part 
Richard  took  in  releasing  Ivanhoe  from  im- 
prisonment. Scott's  novel,  'The  Talisman,'' 
tells  of  Richard's  feats  in  this  crusade. 

When  the  people  learned  that  he  was  in  Eng- 
land they  received  him  with  great  rejoicing,  for 
they  had  no  love  for  his  brother,  John. 

But  Richard  did  not  seem  to  care  how  much 
it  had  cost  his  subjects  to  ransom  him,  nor  did  he 
feel  any  gratitude  for  their  devotion.  He  again 
demanded  money,  and  having  taxed  them  all 
that  they  would  bear,  and  sold  over  again  the 
offices  and  privileges  they  had  once  paid  for,  he 
immediatelv  left  them  for  France,  where  he  had 


114  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

large  possessions  inherited  from  his  father,  and 
never  again  returned  to  England. 

Richard  was  a  military  hero,  but  a  very  poor 
king.  But  he  did  one  good  thing.  He  left 
Archbishop  Hubert  Walter  in  charge  of  his 
kingdom  during  the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  and 
Walter  ^^did  much  to  train  the  people  to  habits 
of  self-government.'^  He  taught  them  how  to 
select  a  jury  for  the  courts  of  law,  and  how  to 
choose  representatives  for  various  civil  duties. 
^^He  educated  the  people  against  a  better  time 
to  come." 

Richard  was  killed  while  storming  a  little 
walled  town  in  France,  by  an  arrow  from  the 
bow  of  a  common  soldier.  In  his  fits  of  anger 
he  had  been  guilty  of  great  cruelty  toward  those 
of  the  town  who  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  but 
when  he  was  dying  of  his  wounds  he  called  for 
the  archer  who  shot  the  arrow  and  generously 
pardoned  him  for  kilUng  his  king.  (The  town 
was  one  in  his  own  dominion,  that  had  refused 
to  deliver  up  to  Richard  some  buried  treasure 
that  had  been  found.)  At  the  same  time  he 
scorned  with  bitter  mockery  the  priests  who 
pleaded  with  him  to  repent  of  his  sins  before  he 
died,  and  to  make  restitution  to  those  whom  he 
had  robbed.  One  who  knew  him  said  that  ^^had 
an  angel  from  heaven  bid  him  abandon  what 
his  anger  prompted  him  to  do  he  would  have 


Richard  I  115 

answered  with  a  curse.''  But,  bad  as  he  was,  he 
was  more  admired  for  many  generations  by  the 
EngUsh  people  than  was  any  other  of  the  early 
kings.  He  was  England's  king  for  ten  years, 
but  did  not  spend  ten  months  upon  the  island 
during  that  period. 

He  was  of  service  to  the  English  nation  by 
leaving  them  for  a  few  years  to  themselves 
and  permitting  them  to  carry  on  their  business 
and  their  local  affairs  with  some  freedom. 

They  were  thus  prepared  to  resist  the  tyr- 
anny of  King  John,  who  became  one  of  the  ablest 
and  the  worst  of  the  kings  of  England. 

Some  historians  consider  Richard  to  have 
been  a  statesman  of  superior  ability,  whose 
acts  were  seasoned  with  discretion,  except  when 
his  passions  were  aroused.  Had  he  lived  to  be 
as  old  as  his  father,  they  think  that  he  would 
have  proved  himself  as  great  a  king  as  he  was 
great  in  war.  He  was  a  man  of  heroic  deeds 
and  a  chivalrous  knight,  and  these  were  a  mantle 
that  covered  a  multitude  of  faults  in  the  opinion 
of  the  English  people. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

How  long  was  Richard  I.  king  of  England?  How  much  of  this 
period  did  he  spend  in  England?  State  how  he  was  made  a  knight. 
How  did  he  treat  his  father?  Why  were  the  crusades  undertaken? 
What  was  the  experience  of  Richard  in  the  Holy  Land?  On  his 
homeward  journey?  Why  was  his  crusade  a  failure?  Were  the 
crusades  helpful  to  the  advancement  of  a  better  civilization?  Tell 
the  story  of  Blondel.  Of  llichaid'y  death.  How  was  the  absence 
of  Richard  from  home  a  blessing  to  the  English  people? 


XI. 

HOW  THE  PEOPLE  LIVED. 

In  chapter  VII.  we  saw  how  the  common 
people  in  England  paid  for  the  use  of  the  land 
from  which  they  obtained  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter  for  their  families.  They  were  required 
to  work  for  the  lord  of  the  manor  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dsiys  each  year,  and 
to  pay  other  taxes  besides. 

For  many  years  before  William  the  Conquer- 
or^s  reign,  and  long  afterward,  the  plain  people 
of  England  were  nearly  all  tillers  of  the  soil. 
Each  family  raised  the  flax  and  the  wool  which 
they  spun  into  thread,  and  wove  into  cloth,  and 
then  made  into  clothes  for  members  of  the  house- 
hold. Some  of  their  garments  were  made  from 
the  skins  of  domestic  animals  or  of  those  killed 
in  the  forests.  Their  shoes  they  made  of  wood. 
They  raised  the  wheat  or  oats  which  they 
pounded  into  flour,  in  stone  mortars.  From 
this  their  bread  was  made.  Each  man  made 
his  own  tools,  such  as  plows  and  harrows,  and 
mended  them  when  broken. 

116 


How  the  People  Lived 


117 


Very  early  in  the  history  of  England,  mills 
which  were  run  by  water,  or  by  the  wind,  were 
built  to  grind  the  wheat  and  oats.  This  was 
a  great  advance  upon  the  practice  of  pounding 
the  grain  in  a  mortar.  By  the  time  of  Henry 
II.  some  changes  had  slowly  grown  up.  It  was 
found  to  be  more  profitable  to  have  one  man 


A  HAND  LOOM. 


do  all  the  blacksmithing  for  the  village  while 
those  for  whom  he  worked  did  his  farm  work 
for  him.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  ^ ^system 
of  division  of  labor''  now  prevailing  throughout 
the  world.  The  lord  would  also  permit  this 
man  to  pay  his  rent  by  making  and  mending 


118  The  Planlagenet  Kings 

the  farm  tools  belonging  to  the  manor.  It  was 
m  this  manner  that  blacksmithing  became  a 
trade.  The  man  who  gave  his  whole  time  to  this 
kind  of  work  became  more  skillful  and  could 
make  better  tools  than  the  farmer  could  make  for 
himself. 

In  a  similar  way  the  trade  of  the  carpenter 
grew  up.  The  villager  more  skillful  than  the 
others  in  working  in  wood  would  give  most  of 
his  time  to  carpentering  and  receive  in  pay 
the  labor  of  those  whom  he  served,  or  else  they 
would  pay  him  in  the  produce  of  their  own  farms. 

The  trade  of  the  weaver  was  one  of  the  first 
to  become  established  in  every  town  or  village. 
Some  of  the  parents  or  grandparents  of  chil- 
dren now  attending  school  remember  that  in 
their  homes,  when  they  were  children,  the  m^other 
and  daughters  spun  the  wool  and  flax  and  wove 
the  yarn  into  cloth,  and  then  made  it  into  clothes 
for  members  of  the  family.  So  you  se^  that 
some  of  the  features  of  home  life,  in  the  time  of 
Henry  11. ,  continued  to  be  the  manner  of  life  of 
country  people  until  a  few  years  ago.  There 
are  families  in  America  to-day,  where  spinning 
and  weaving  and  blacksmithing  and  carpenter- 
ing are  done  by  the  parents  and  children  on  the 
farm. 

Farmers  raised  from  the  soil  what  was  neces- 
sary for  food.     The  manufacturer  changed  the 


How  the  People  Lived 


119 


products  of  the  land  into  those  forms  that  made 
them  more  useful  and  added  to  the  comforts  of 
life.  The  first  of  these  trades  mentioned  by  the 
historians,   that  grew  up  in  the  towns,   were 


Millet. 

WOMAN  CARDING  WOOL. 


those  of  the  butchers,  bakers,  bricklayers,  dyers 
and  fullers,  saddlers,  plumbers,  and  helmet- 
makers.  Of  course  there  were  carpenters,  and 
blacksmiths,  and  weavers  there  also.     People 


120  The  Plantagenct  Kings 

slowly  discovered  that  it  was  economy  to  divide 
up  the  labor  so  that  some  men  should  do  all  the 
butchering,  or  carpentering,  ratfier  than  that 
every  man  should  do  these  different  things  for 
himself. 

For  many  years  there  was  little  exchange  of 
products  between  different  communities,  and 
but  little  money  was  in  circulation.  If  a  man 
wanted  a  horse,  and  owned  cattle  or  sheep,  he 
would  seek  to  exchange  what  he  had  for  what  he 
needed.  This  kind  of  trade  is  known  as  barter. 
But  as  the  people  grew  richer,  and  villages  be- 
came towns  and  cities,  trade  between  those 
towns  increased.  Little  by  little  the  products 
of  foreign  countries  were  brought  into  England 
for  sale.  Henry  II.  encouraged  the  building 
of  towns.  Fairs  were  held  once  or  twice  a  year, 
to  which  people  from  the  manors  in  the  vicinity 
would  bring  their  products  to  exchange  for  others 
which  they  needed.  Pedlers,  who  were  gen- 
erally foreigners,  then  as  now,  would  bring  to 
these  fairs  more  costly  articles  of  foreign  mer- 
chandise, such  as  silks,  and  shawls,  and  jewels, 
which  the  wealthier  people  would  buy.  These 
fairs  could  not  be  held  without  the  king's  con- 
sent, but  he  did  not  often  refuse  his  permission 
when  the  town  paid  him  for  a  license. 

By  and  by  a  new  class  of  traders  who  were 


How  the  People  Lived  121 

called  merchants  arose  in  the  larger  towns.  They 
would  sell  the  people  domestic  goods  and  foreign 
luxuries  and  take  in  exchange  their  farm  prod- 
ucts. These  latter  they  would  sell  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  town  or  transport  them  to  larger 
towns  where  they  were  in  demand. 

This  carrying  business  called  for  another  class 
of  workers  to  transport  merchandise  from  one 
place  to  another.  For  a  long  time  this  was 
packed  on  the  backs  of  horses  and  mules,  be- 
cause the  wagon  roads  were  usually  impass- 
able. The  wagons  and  carts  in  use  were  very 
heavy  and  clumsy,  the  wheels  being  made  of 
solid  plank  cut  in  circular  form.  They  were 
drawn  by  several  yokes  of  oxen.  Something 
very  like  this  is  the  method  of  transportation 
of  the  farmers  in  Mexico  at  the  present  time. 
The  bad  roads  made  transportation  in  carts 
and  wagons  very  difficult  during  most  of  the 
year.  This  occupation  of  transporting  merchan- 
dise from  one  town  to  another  grew  along  with 
other  vocations  of  the  people  and  as  wealth 
and  population  increased. 

The  feudal  system  required  the  lord  of  the 
manor  to  care  for  all  unfortunate  persons  who 
from  defects  of  body  or  of  mind  were  not  able 
to  take  care  of  themselves. 


122  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  was  the  common  occupation  of  the  people  of  England  dur- 
ng  the  first  1,500  years  after  the  Roman  invasion?  How  does  a 
machine  differ  from  a  tool?  What  were  the  forces  of  nature  first 
used  to  do  man's  work?  How  did  the  trades  grow?  What  were 
some  of  the  first  trades  ?  What  is  meant  by  division  of  labor?  What 
is  barter?  Who  first  brought  foreign  goods  into  the  country?  How 
were  people  and  merchandise  transported  from  one  place  to  an- 
other? Why?  Name  the  good  things  that  belonged  to  the  feudal 
system. 


XII. 

KING  JOHN  AND  THE  GREAT  CHARTER. 

1199—1216. 

John  was  Richard's  younger  brother,  and 
the  favorite  son  of  Henry  II.  He  had  been 
brought  up  in  England  and  had  all  the  exter- 
nal qualities  of  a  knightly  gentleman.  He  was 
quick,  vivacious,  and  genial,  with  a  social  charm 
that  captivated  men  and  women  whom  he  chose 
to  please.  He  read  good  books  and  was  so  well 
informed  that  learned  men  found  him  a  pleasant 
companion.  He  had  even  greater  political  and 
military  genius  than  his  father.  But,  in  speak- 
ing of  his  moral  character,  the  English  historian, 
J.  R.  Green,  says  of  him  ''he  united  into  6ne 
mass  of  wickedness  all  the  influence,  the  selfish- 
ness, the  cruelty  and  tyranny,  the  shameless- 
iiess,  the  superstition,  the  indijfference  to  honor 
and  truth"  that  had  for  generations  belonged 
to  the  family  of  the  Plantagenet  rulers  in  France. 
He  was  the  worst  of  traitors  to  his  brother  Rich- 
ard; he  murdered  with  his  own  hand  Arthur,  the 
son  of  his  oldest  brother,  who  was  the  rightful 

123 


124  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

ful  heir  to  the  EngHsh  throne;  he  was  faithless 
to  his  wife,  and  starved  to  death  Uttle  children 
who  were  heirs  to  property  he  wished  to  seize 
for  himself.  He  scoffed  at  religion,  ^^but  he 
never  stirred  upon  a  journey  without  hanging 
relics  about  his  neck.  But  with  the  supreme 
wickedness  of  the  Angevine  race  he  inherited 
its  profound  ability.^' 

Such  was  the  character  of  the  king  who  was 
compelled  by  the  barons,  the  bishops,  the  knights 
and  the  burgesses,  to  sign  a  charter  that  made 
it  treason  against  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land 
for  him  to  practice  his  tyranny  upon  Englishmen. 

You  have  learned  in  a  former  chapter  that 
Henry  I.  was  the  first  king  of  England  to  grant 
a  charter  setting  forth  the  rights  of  the  people. 
This  he  did  voluntarily  on  the  day  of  his  corona- 
tion, and  this  charter  was  the  first  written  con- 
stitution of  England.  They  were  not  new 
rights,  but  very  old  ones,  which  William  Rufus, 
Henry^s  elder  brother,  had  disregarded  during 
the  thirteen  years  (1087-1 100)of  his  reign.  (Will- 
iam Rufus  was  a  tyrannical  king  who  was  killed 
while  hunting  in  the  great  forest  which  his  fa- 
ther, William  the  Conqueror,  had  made  by  driv- 
ing from  their  homes  the  people  who  lived  within 
its  boundaries.  The  people  believed  that  the 
death  of  Rufus  was  a  punishment  sent  upon  the 
son  for  the  sins  of  his  father.) 


King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  125 

This  charter  of  King  Henry  I.  pleased  his  peo- 
ple greatly,  and  his  long  reign  of  35  years,  dur- 
ing which  he  was,  for  the  most  part,  true  to  his 
pledge,  so  confirmed  these  rights  in  the  thought 
and  practice  of  the  people  that  subsequent 
tyrants  could  not  wholly  disregard  them. 

Now,  a  charter  is  a  written  statement  by  the 
government  that  grants  certain  privileges  or 
rights  to  the  citizens.  The  Great  Charter  is  so 
called  because  of  the  importance  of  the  rights  it 
granted  to  the  English  people.  It  was  written 
in  Latin.  (It  should  be  remembered  that  all  the 
laws  and  records  of  the  English  were  written  in 
Latin  at  this  time  (1215),  and  for  many  years 
afterwards,  while  the  English  language  was  tak- 
ing form  by  its  use  in  oral  speech.) 

^^Magna  Charta"  are  the  two  Latin  words  origi- 
nally written  at  the  head  of  the  agreement,  which 
mean  the  great  charter;  that  is  why  the  charter 
is  generally  called  ^ 'Magna  Charta.'^ 

The  kings,  under  the  feudal  system,  when  King 
John  came  to  the  throne,  (1199)  had  become 
very  powerful,  and  some  of  them  were  cruel  ty- 
rants. John  was  the  meanest  and  most  cruel  of 
them  all.  The  rights  of  the  Normans  and  the 
English  were  alike  disregarded  by  him,  and 
English  and  Normans  united  in  demanding  that 
he  sign  an  agreement,  containing  63  articles, 
which  they  had  drawn  up,  and  which  bound 


126  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

him  to  observe  their  rights  as  therein  set  forth. 
This  was  eighty  years  after  the  death  of  Henry  I. 

These  were  not  new  rights,  as  you  have  learned, 
but  very  old  ones.  Many  of  them  had  been  ac- 
knowledged as  the  rights  of  the  English  people 
long  before  the  Normans  came  in.  You  should 
keep  in  mind  that  the  English  people  now  joined 
with  the  Norman  barons  in  demanding  that 
these  rights  be  acknowledged.  (The  former 
unions  had  been  between  the  king  and  the  peo- 
ple against  the  barons.)  King  John  was  com- 
pelled to  sign  these  articles.  He  intended  to 
set  them  aside  after  the  storm  had  blown  over, 
and  the  country  had  become  quiet  again. 

The  barons  had  little  faith  in  his  promises, 
but  they  thought  that  a  written  agreement 
would  be  more  enduring  than  an  oral  one.  They 
had  copies  of  the  charter  placed  in  each  of  the 
great  cathedrals  for  safe  keeping,  so  that  if  one 
were  destroyed  another  might  be  procured.  A 
copy  is  still  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  way  in  which  the  barons  compelled  John 
to  sign  the  articles  was  as  follows : 

When  they  first  presented  the  charter  to  him 
for  his  signature  they  said:  ^ These  are  our 
claims,  and  if  they  are  not  instantly  granted 
our  arms  shall  do  us  justice."  The  king  was 
furious,  crying:  ''Why  do  you  not  demand  my 
crown  also?    I  will  not  grant  to  you  liberties  that 


King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  127 

would  make  me  your  slave.' ^  The  barons  with- 
drew and  began  to  gather  an  army.  The  mayor 
and  citizens  of  London  joined  them.  All  the 
great  Enghshmen  and  wealthier  citizens  were, 
at  this  time,  on  the  side  of  the  barons;  only  a 
few  knights  stood  with  the  king.  King  John 
was  powerless  and  finally  yielded.  The  two 
parties  met  in  an  open  field  upon  an  island  in 
the  river  Thames,  about  three  miles  from  Wind- 
sor, which  was  one  of  the  castles  of  the  king. 
The  name  of  this  field  is  Runnymede,  which  is  a 
name  famous  in  English  history  because  of  this 
event.  There  King  John  signed  the  charter  in 
the  presence  of  the  barons  on  June  15,  in  the 
year  1215,  nearly  700  years  ago. 

Why  is  this  charter  so  famous,  and  so  import- 
ant to  both  the  English  and  American  people? 

It  is  because  this  was  the  first  written  consti- 
tution formed  by  an  agreement  between  the 
people  and  the  king,  and  in  settlement  of  their 
differences.  (That  of  Henry  I.  had  been  a 
voluntary  gift  to  the  people  as  a  mark  of  his 
kindness  and  justice.) 

It  declared  the  right  of  all  the  people  of  Eng- 
land to  some  degree  of  freedom  to  live  and  pur- 
sue their  own  happiness  without  the  interfer- 
ence of  the  ruler.  It  was  the  Englishman/s  first 
declaration  of  independence,  and  its  first  ac- 
knowledgment by  the  government.     To  give  his 


128  The  Plantagmet  Kings 

people  the  freedom  they  demanded  he  said 
would  make  him  a  slave.  He  had  not  learned, 
and  never  did  learn,  that  by  granting  freedom 
to  his  subjects  his  own  freedom  was  made  the 
more  secure. 

It  will  not  seem  to  you  that  the  freedom 
granted  by  this  charter  was  very  great  when 
we  compare  it  with  the  freedom  we  now  enjoy, 
bat  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  people's  emanci- 
pation from  such  tyrants  as  King  John,  who 
seemed  to  think  that  neither  barons  nor  people 
had  any  rights  that  he  was  bound  to  respect. 
It  was,  also,  the  beginning  of  the  over-throw  of 
the  feudal  system. 

That  the  Normans  and  Anglo-Saxons  joined 
together  in  these  demands  does  not  seem  so 
strange  when  we  remember  that  the  Normans 
were  cousins  of  the  English.  All  of  the  Teutonic 
race,  down  deep  in  their  hearts,  believed  in  lib- 
erty. But  the  Northmen  had  been  in  France 
foi*  200  years,  and  had  adopted  so  many  of  the 
ideas  of  government,  and  so  many  of  the  customs 
of  the  French,  that  it  took  several  generations  of 
life  with  the  English  people  for  their  old  love  of 
liberty  to  revive. 

After  John  had  died  and  Henry  HI.  had  be- 
come king,  he  tried  to  ignore  the  charter  and  re- 
fused to  observe  it.  But  the  barons  and  citizens 
again  declared  that  the  charter  was  the  law  of 


King  John  and  the, Great  Charter  129 


THE  PROTESTING  BARONS  BEFORE  HENRY  III. 


130  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

the  land  which  the  king  must  obey,  and  they  de- 
manded that  an  assembly  of  the  chief  men  of  the 
liation  should  be  regularly  called  together  by 
the  king  to  help  him  obey  it.  This  was  the  first 
parliament  under  the  Norman  rule  that  assem- 
bled because  the  people  demanded  it.  Simon  de 
Montfort  was  the  great  leader  of  the  people  in 
the  reign  of  Henry  III.  He  spoke  for  them  in 
(lemanding  of  the  king  that  he  establish  a  par- 
liament of  lords,  and  bishops,  and  gentlemen, 
who  should  be  called  together  to  consult  with 
the  king  whenever  he  wanted  money,  or  desired 
to  do  anything  that  affected  the  liberty  of  the 
people,  or  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  law  that  the  king 
should  not  tax  the  people  without  the  consent 
of  parliament.  This  law  was  often  violated 
afterward,  but  the  people  never  ceased  to  re- 
gard it  as  one  of  their  rights,  and  Charles  I.  lost 
his  head,  more  than  400  years  afterward,  chiefly 
because  he  defied  the  parliament  by  levying 
taxes  upon  the  people  without  its  consent. 

We  will  now  examine  some  of  these  sixty- 
three  articles  of  the  ^' Magna  Charta"  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  and  you  will  see  why  it  was 
important  that  representatives  of  the  people 
should  help  the  king  to  carry  them  out.  Among 
the  most  important  were  the  following: 

1.     **To  none  will  we  (the  king)  sell,  to  none 


King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  131 

will  we  refuse,  to  none  will  we  delay  Right  and 
Justice.'^ 

It  appears  from  this  that  the  king  and  the 
judges  had  not  formerly  given  to  a  man  what 
was  rightfully  and  justly  his  due  unless  he  paid 
money  for  it.  We  may  infer  that  they  had  de- 
nied a  man  justice  altogether  provided  his  ad*- 
versary  would  pay  a  sufficient  sum  to  the  king, 
or  to  the  king's  officers,  or,  else,  they  would  de- 
lay action  upon  a  case  indefinitely  and  so  delay 
justice.  This  neglect  to  consider  the  complaints 
of  the  people  was  one  of  the  charges  made  against 
King  George  III.  by  our  revolutionary  fathers 
more  than  five  hundred  years  afterward. 

Justice  is  no  longer  refused  in  our  courts  nor 
is  it  often  sold.  But  it  is  frequently  delayed 
far  too  long.  But  this  is  not  for  any  evil  pur- 
pose, as  it  was  formerly. 

2.  "The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  shall  not 
follow  the  King's  circuit  but  shall  be  held  in 
certain  fixed  places." 

The  judges  had  been  going  about  with  the 
king  from  one  of  his  castles  to  another.  This 
iilade  it  very  difficult  and  expensive  for  these 
who  had  suffered  wrong  to  obtain  justice  from 
the  king's  court. 

3.  Another  article  provides  for  the  holding 
of  courts  in  each  county  four  times  a  year,  by 
two  judges.     In  the  United  States  the  Court  ic 


132  The  Plantagenei  Kings 

held  in  fixed  places  iii  the  different  states.  So, 
too,  each  state  has  a  supreme  court,  district 
courts,  and  county  courts,  all  held  at  fixed 
places  and  at  regular  periods.  These  are  all 
substantially  the  same  courts  that  were  prom- 
ised by  King  John  in  articles  18  and  40  of  the 
great  charter. 

4.  ^^No  freeman  shall  be  arrested,  or  im- 
prisoned, or  dispossessed  of  his  tenement,  or 
outlawed,  or  exiled,  or  in  any  wise  proceeded 
against  unless  by  the  legal  judgment  of  his 
peers,  or  by  the  laws  of  the  land.'' 

You  will  remember  that  in  the  reign  of  King 
Alfred,  350  years  before,  the  village  councils 
often  called  a  jury  to  determine  the  guilt  cr 
innocence  of  the  accused,  and  that  during  the 
reigns  of  Henry  11.  and  Richard  I.  the  people 
had  exercised  this  right.  Now  the  people  said 
to  King  John  that  this  must  go  into  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  so  that  no  king  could  disregard 
it  without  being  guilty  of  breaking  this  agree- 
ment. So  it  was  put  into  the  ^' Magna  Charta," 
which  they  thought  was  more  powerful  than 
the  king  because  it  expressed  the  will  of  all  the 
people.  If  a  man  was  charged  with  an  offense 
the  question  whether  he  was  guilty  or  not  must 
be  decided  by  men  who  were  his  equals,  or 
peers.  Lords  and  gentlemen  could  not  sit  on  a 
jury  to  try  a  common  farmer  or  a  merchant. 


King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  133 

They  must  be  men  of  the  same  rank  in  life  as 
the  accused.  At  the  present  time  all  men  are 
peers  before  the  law  in  the  United  States;  nor 
is  there  one  set  of  laws  for  farmers,  another  for 
merchants,  another  for  churchmen,  and  another 
for  gentlemen.  But  the  same  law  applies  to 
all.  Now  all  these  rights  have  come  to  be  ours, 
inherited  with  the  ^' Magna  Charta^'  which  the 
people  of  England  compelled  King  John  to  sign. 

5.  Another  important  article  of  the  great 
charter,  which  is  the  law  of  the  land  in  England 
and  America  today,  runs  as  follows:  ^'No  free- 
man, merchant,  or  villein  (laborer  or  husband- 
man) shall  be  excessively  fined  for  a  small 
offense;  the  first  shall  not  be  deprived  of  his 
means  of  livelihood;  the  second  of  his  mer- 
chandise; the  third  of  his  implements  of  hus- 
bandry.^' 

The  distinction  between  frfeemen  and  others 
does  not  exist  at  the  present  time,  and  the  law 
still  forbids  that  any  poor  man  shall  be  stripped 
of  all  that  he  has  by  fines,  or  to  pay  his  creditors. 
In  many  of  our  states  much  more  than  the 
tools  he  works  with  are  free  from  seizure  for 
debts  or  fines.  The  reason  for  this  is  evident; 
for  how  could  a  man  ever  earn  enough  to  enable 
him  to  pay  his  debts  or  keep  him  from  the  poor- 
house,  if  all  of  the  tools  and  property  which  he 
uses  in  earning  money  were  taken  from  him? 


134  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

But  there  was  nothing  in  the  great  charter  that 
forbade  imprisoning  a  man  for  debt,  and  this 
was  often  done  until  quite  recent  times .  The  poet 
Whittier,  only  a  few  years  ago  wrote  a  poem 
entitled  ^^A  Prisoner  for  Debt/^  in  which  he 
expressed  his  strong  indignation  that  men  should 
be  put  in  prison  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts 
and  in  the  city  of  Boston,  because  they  were 
poor.  It  is  said  that  this  poem  helped  to  secure 
the  repeal  of  the  law  that  permitted  imprison- 
ment for  debt  when  the  man  was  not  able  to 
pay. 

As  stated  above,  there  were  63  articles  in  the 
original  contract  between  the  people  and  King 
John,  but.  a  large  majority  of  these  ceased  to  be 
regarded  when  the  feudal  system  was  abol- 
ished.    They  applied  only  to  that. 

The  story  of  the^ Great  Charter  has  been  briefly 
told,  but  it  took  a  very  long  time  to  get  it  obeyed 
by  all  the  kings  and  judges  in  England.  It  was 
granted,  in  substance,  thirty-eight  times  by  dif- 
ferent rulers,  and  even  at  this  time  the  king  of 
England  when  crowned,  and  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  when  installed  into  office, 
take  a  solemn  oath  that  they  will  not  violate 
the  provisions  of  this  charter  that  yet  con- 
tinue to  be  the  common  law  of  these  nations. 
In  our  own  Declaration  of  Independence,  made 
in   1776,   550  years   after  the   reign   of    King 


King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  135 

John,  the  wrongs  complained  of  by  our  revolu- 
tionary fathers  against  King  George  III.  were 
nearly  the  same  as  those  which  the  ^*  Magna 
Charta "  forbade.  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  are  in  substance  these  articles  of  the 
'^Magna  Charta/'  and  because  King  George  III. 
would  not  obey  them  the  American  barons  and 
yeomanr}^  fought  the  Revolutionary  War  and 
gained  their  independence  of  the  English  crown. 

It  is  certainly  right  to  affirm  that  this  great 
charter  was  the  English  people's  declaration  of 
rights  against  the  despotic  rule  of  the  king,  and 
may  be  regarded  as  their  first  declaration  of  in- 
dependence of  any  sovereign  who  denied  these 
rights  to  Englishmen. 

As  the  barons  anticipated,  King  John  signed 
this  agreement  only  to  break  it  at  the  first  fa- 
vorable opportunity. 

Some  years  previous  to  the  granting  of  the 
charter  he  had  quarreled  with  the  Pope,  and 
had  been  expelled  from  the  church  by  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  and  his  subjects  had  been  told  that 
he  had  no  claim  to  their  loyalty  and  obedience. 
The  French  king  was  directed  by  the  Pope  to  in- 
vade England  and  take  possession  of  it.  Now, 
while  the  English  hated  John's  tyranny  and 
wickedness,  they  hated  more  to  be  subject  to 
France,  and  they  rallied  to  the  defense  of  their 


i^6  The  Piantagenet  Kings 

shores.  The  French  fleet  was  overwhelmed 
by  the  English  sailors,  but  John  was  afraid  to 
trust  his  own  people.  He  suddenly  yielded 
to  all  the  Pope^s  demands,  and  even  went  so 
far  as  to  surrender  his  crown  to  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  and  receive  it  back  as  the  Pope's 
vassal ;  that  is,  he  acknowledged  the  Pope  as  his 
feudal  lord,  and  did  homage  to  him  as  such.  (See 
^^doing  homage,''  on  page  76.)  The  Pope  then 
immediately  ordered  the  French  king  to  desist 
from  his  invasion  of  England,  and  John  thought 
that  he  was  saved  from  all  his  enemies  except 
the  English.  He  then  invaded  France  with 
an  army  of  his  dependents  and  of  hired  foreign 
soldiers,  and  joined  with  another  large  army, 
composed  of  Flemish  and  German  soldiers,  and 
fought  a  battle  against  France  for  the  recov- 
ery of  Normandy,  which  he  had  lost  in  a  pre- 
vious war.  The  French  king  was  victorious 
and  John  escaped  across  the  channel  to  Eng- 
land. Then  it  was  that  the  barons  and  knights 
demanded  of  him  the  ^^Magna  Charta." 

After  he  had  signed  and  taken  the  oath  to  be 
true  to  his  agreement  he  immediately  called 
upon  the  Pope  to  declare  that  his  contract  with 
his  people  was  not  binding,  and  to  send  him  sol- 
diers to  help  him  hold  England  for  the  church. 
Both  of  these  things  the  Pope  did,  but  without 
avail.     The  English  barons  called  the  French 


King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  137 

to  aid  them,  and  together  they  marched  against 
the  forces  of  John. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  John  was  attacked 
by  a  fatal  sickness  and  died  before  the  decisive 
battle  had  been  fought.  Then  the  EngUsh  paid 
the  French  for  their  assistance  and  young  Henry, 
the  son  of  John,  who  was  but  nine  years  of  age, 
was  crowned  king,  as  Henry  IH. 

King  John  died  in  1216,  having  reigned  seven- 
teen years. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  was  King  John's  relationship  to  William  the  Conqueror? 
Name  some  of  his  good  and  some  of  his  bad  qualities.  Have  you  read 
Shakespeare's  description  of  him  given  in  his  play  of  King  John? 
Who  gave  to  the  English  their  first  charter?  What  is  a  charter? 
Why  is  the  charter  signed  by  King  John  called  the  Great  Charter? 
What  caused  the  English  and  the  Normans  to  unite  against  the 
king?  Were  the  rights  granted  by  the  Great  Charter  new  rights? 
What  did  John  say  when  the  barons  made  their  demand?  Why 
did  he  not  undertake  to  go  to  war  with  his  barons  as  Henry  III. 
did  later?  Where  was  the  charter  signed?  When?  How  many 
years  ago?  How  many  articles  in  the  charter?  Why  are  most  of 
these  of  no  force  now?  What  are  the  five  that  are,  at  this  time, 
our  most  cherished  laws?  Who  may  be  called  the  first  George 
Washington  of  the  English  race?  When  John  granted  the  charter 
to  the  English  people  what  were  his  relations  with  the  Pope  of 
Rome?  What  did  he  do  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  the  Pope  against 
his  enemies?  Did  the  Pope's  assistance  enable  him  to  conquer 
the  French?  After  he  had  been  defeated  in  France  and  had  been 
compelled  to  sign  the  Great  Charter  what  did  he  do  next?  What 
was  the  result? 


XIII. 

CITY  SCHOOLS  AND  SPORTS. 

London  had  grown  to  be  an  important  city 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  We  learn  from- 
the  earUest  historians  what  was  taught  in  the 
schools,  and  how  they  were  conducted.  The 
schools  were  taught  by  the  priests  in  connection 
with  the  churches.  There  were  three  famous 
schools  in  London  St.  Paul,  St.  Peter,  and  the 
Abbey  of  our  Lady.  ^'On  feast  days  there  are 
festivals  in  the  church.  The  scholars  spend 
much  time  in  debating.  They  have  much  prac- 
tice in  the  use  of  imperfect  and  perfect  syllo- 
gisms. Some  debate  for  display,  or  merely  to 
get  the  better  of  their  opponent.  Others  for  to 
discover  the  truth  in  regard  to  the  question  in 
dispute.  Those  are  judged  happy  who  use  a 
great  heap  and  flood  of  words.  The  young 
orators  seek  to  persuade  as  well  as  convince, 
and  study  to  observe  the  rules  of  their  art,  and 
to  omit  nothing  that  is  necessary  to  make  the 
argument  complete.  The  boys  of  different 
schools  compete  with  one  another  in  writing 

138 


City  Schools  and  Sports  139 

verses,  and  contend  about  the  principles  of  gram- 
mar and  rules  of  the  past  and  future  tenses/^ 

The  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  lan- 
guage which  was  used  in  these  schools  was  Latin, 
the  same  as  that  in  which  all  the  books  were 
written  and  all  correspondence  was  carried  on. 

Holidays  were  spent  with  the  masters  like 
other  days,  except  that  the  children  engaged  in 
sports.  The  school-boys  brought  gamecocks 
to  school  and  ^'all  the  forenoon  they  delight 
themselves  in  cock-fighting. ''  In  the  afternoon 
'^they  go  into  the  fields  to  play  at  ball."  The 
gentlemen  and  business  men  ^^come  forth  on 
horseback"  to  view  the  sport. 

Every  Friday  during  Lent  a  sort  of  tourna- 
ment was  held  in  the  field,  when  the  young  men 
on  horseback  contended  with  each  other  in 
practicing  the  feats  of  war.  In  Walter  Scott's 
story  of  Ivanhoe  is  a  vivid  description  of  a  real 
tournament  among  the  wa,rriors.  The  school- 
boys' tournaments  were  probably  an  imitation 
of  this.  On  Easter  holidays  they  had  sham 
§ea  fights  on  the  river  Thames.  Another  feat 
is  described  by  a  historian  of  that  period  as  fol- 
lows: 

^^A  shield  is  hung  upon  a  pole,  fixed  in  the 
midst  of  the  stream,  a  boat  is  prepared  without 
oars,  to  be  carried  by  the  force  of  the  water,  and 
in  the  fore  part  thereof  standeth  a  young  man 


140  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

ready  to  give  charge  upon  the  shield  with  his 
lance;  if  so  he  breaketh  his  lance  against  the 
shield,  and  doth  not  fall,  he  is  thought  to  have 
performed  a  worthy  deed;  if  so  be,  without 
breaking  his  lance,  he  runneth  strongly  against 
the  shield,  down  he  falleth  into  the  water,  for 
the  boat  is  violently  forced  with  the  tide;  but 
on  each  side  of  the  shield  ride  two  boats,  fur- 
nished with  young  men,  which  recover  him  that 
falleth  as  soon  as  they  may.  Upon  the  bridges, 
wharves,  and  houses  by  the  river^s  side,  stand 
great  numbers  to  see  and  laugh  thereat/^ 

On  holidays  in  summer  the  boys  and  young 
men  practiced  leaping,  dancing,  shooting  with 
a  bow,  wrestling,  throwing  heavy  weights,  and 
the  like.  In  the  winter  they  indulged  in  bull- 
fighting, and  bear-baiting  and  games  upon  the 
ice.     These  latter  are  described  as  follows : 

'They  make  themselves  seats  of  ice  as  large 
as  millstones ;  one  sits  down,  many  hand  in  hand 
to  draw  him,  and  one  slipping  on  a  sudden,  all 
fall  together.  Some  tie  bones  to  their  feet  and 
under  their  heels,  and  shoving  themselves  by  a 
little  peak-staff  do  slide  as  swiftly  as  a  bird  flyeth 
in  the  air  or  an  arrow  out  of  a  cross-bow.  Some- 
times two  run  together  with  poles,  and  hitting 
one  the  other  either  one  or  both  fall,  not  without 
hurt;  some  break  their  arms,  others  their  legs; 
but  youth  desirous  of  glory  of  this  sort  exercise 
themselves  against  the  time  of  war/' 


XIV. 

A  SHORT  STORY  OF  A  LONG  PERIOD. 

1216  —  1485. 

The  family  of  the  Plantagenets  ruled  in  Eng- 
land from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
II.,  1154,  to  the  death  of  King  Richard  III.  in 
1485,  a  period  of  331  years.  During  their  reign 
many  changes  occurred,  some  of  which  were 
favorable  to  the  growth  of  liberty,  but  many  of 
them,  for  a  time,  robbed  the  people  of  the  rights 
which  the  charters  had  granted.  Kings,  like 
John,  often  granted  charters  without  intending 
to  do  what  the  charter  promised ;  but  an  agree- 
ment that  was  written  and  signed  remained  to 
the  people  as  evidence  thai  could  not  be  ques- 
tioned, and  eventually  it  became  part  of  the  es- 
tablished law  of  the  kingdom.  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  these  charter-rights  and  the 
decisions  of  the  King's  Courts  are  now  known 
as  the  ^'Common  Law  of  England." 

Henry  III.,  the  son  of  John,  became  king  of 
England  when  but  nine  years  old,  and  reigned 
fifty  years.  The  Pope  of  Rome  was  his  guar- 
dian until  he  became  a  man,  and  the  bishops 

141 


142  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

had  great  influence  in  directing  the  government 
during  his  minority.  After  Henry  came  of  age 
he  wished  to  set  aside  the  ^^Magna  Charta/^  but 
the  barons  resisted.  The  barons  had  learned 
the  lesson  that  if  they  wished  to  succeed  in  op- 
posing the  king's  wishes  they  must  have  the 
knights  and  freemen,  or  yeomanry,  with  them. 
During  the  long  absence  of  Richard  I.,  as  you 
have  learned,  these  barons  had  made  friends 
with  the  plain  people,  who  joined  with  them 
in  demanding  of  John  the  great  charter.  So 
too,  when  Henry  III.  wished  to  ignore  the  char- 
ter, the  barons  and  people  compelled  him  to 
obey  it  and  to  call  a  parliament  to  help  him  to 
do  so.  This  was  the  first  parliament  in  which 
the  lords,  knights  and  burgesses  were  repre- 
sented. You  learned  in  a  former  chapter  that 
one  of  the  barons,  whose  name  was  Simon  de 
Montf ort,  took  the  lead  in  this  great  movement, 
and  won  a  high  place  in  the  hearts  of  English- 
njen  for  defending  their  rights  against  the 
tyranny  of  the  king.  It  will  be  well  to  remember 
that  the  first  English  parliament  was  held  six 
hundred  years  ago  and  that  there  sat  in  this 
parliament  28  barons,  120  churchmen  and  a 
goodly  number  of  members  from  the  cities  and 
counties  who  were  called  burgesses  and  knights 
of  the  shire. 
These  county  members  afterwards  became  the 


A  Short  Story  of  a  Long  Period  143 

English  House  of  Commons  and  the  barons  and 
churclmien  became  the  House  of  Lords.  These 
houses  correspond  to  our  House  of  Representa- 
tives and  Senate.  The  main  difference  is  that 
the  House  of  Lords  is  composed  of  members  of 
Parhament  by  right  of  birth,  while  the  members 
of  the  Senate  are  elected  by  the  Legislatures  of 
the  states  for  a  term  of  six  years. 

Simon  de  Montfort  was  the  first  George 
Washington   of   the   English   speaking   race. 

Edward  L,  the  son  of  Henry  IIL,  came  to  the 
throne  after  his  father's  death.  He  is  known 
in  history  as  the  third  one  of  the  great  kings  of 
England  after  the  Norman  invasion.  The  other 
two  were  William  the  Conqueror  and  Henry  TI. 
Edward  was  large-minded  enough  to  see  that  a 
free  and  just  government  in  which  everything 
was  done  according  to  law  gave  the  greatest 
freedom  and  happiness,  not  only  to  the  people 
but  to  the  king  also,  and  increased  the  power 
and  greatness  of  the  nation.  Because  of  this 
superior  wisdom  he  was  greatly  beloved  by  all 
the  English  people,  and  since  he  was  more  Eng- 
lish than  Norman  he  was  called  the  first  English 
king  since  the  death  of  Harold. 

Now,  the  English  government  claimed  that  its 
rule  extended  over  the  Scots,  but  the  people  of 
Scotland  did  not  admit  this.  Edward  deter- 
mined  to   settle   this   question   by   force   and 


144 


The  Plantagenet  Kings 


marched  against  the  Scots  with  a  large  army. 
He  was  everywhere  victorious,  until  a  great 
leader  arose  from  the  Scottish  people  named 
William  Wallace,  who  inspired  the  Scots  with 


CORONATION    CHAIR. 

(Stone  of  Destiny.) 


renewed  courage,  and  led  them  to  victory  in 
many  battles.  But  Edward  was  too  great  a  gen- 
eral, and  could  command  too  large  an  army  to 


A  Short  Story  of  a  Long  Period  145 

justify  the  Scots  in  the  hope  of  ultimate  success. 
Wallace  was  finally  defeated,  taken  prisoner,  and 
executed  as  a  traitor  by  the  English  courts.  Ed- 
ward now  determined  to  settle  the  matter  for 
all  time,  and  although  he  was  an  old  man  he 
started  with  a  larger  army  than  before  to  com- 
pel the  Scots  to  acknowledge  his  authority. 
But  he  died  in  camp  before  he  reached  Scotland. 

In  his  war  with  Scotland  Edward  I.  seized 
and  carried  to  London  the  ^^ Stone  of  Destiny^' 
upon  which  the  kings  of  Scotland  had  been 
crowned  for  many  generations.  The  stone  was 
built  into  a  chair  which  has  ever  since  been  the 
coronation  chair  of  the  English  rulers.  The 
picture  shows  it  as  it  appears  in  Westminster 
Abbey  to-day. 

His  son.  Edward  II.,  who  succeeded  him,  was 
a  weak  king  and  a  poor  general.  He  called  the 
army  back  to  England,  but  some  years  afterward 
started  with  another,  numbering  100,000  men, 
to  the  relief  of  Sterling  Castle,  which  was  be- 
sieged by  the  Scots.  Robert  Bruce,  was  now 
leader  of  the  Scottish  forces.  He  was  a  great 
general  at  the  head  of -a  small  army.  He  met 
the  great  army  of  Edward  II.  with  only  40,000 
soldiers.  A  battle  was  fought  at  Bannockbum, 
in  which  the  English  were  defeated,  and  30,000 
of  their  army  slain.  From  that  day  to  the 
union  of  Scotland  and  England  under  one  king 


146  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

no  foreign  ruler  was  ever  the  acknowledged  king 
of  Scotland. 

(There  is  an  old  story ^  "The  Scottish  Chiefs/' 
written  b}^  Jane  Porter,  in  which  the  heroic 
deeds  of  William  Wallace  are  told  in  a  very  enter- 
taining way.  "The  Tales  of  a  Grandfather''  is 
another  book  in  which  Walter  Scott  has  told 
this  story  truer  to  history  than  is  that  in  'The 
Scottish  Chiefs.''  There  are,  also,  many  stories 
of  the  strange  and  bold  adventures  of  Rob- 
ert Bruce,  which  you  will  find  both  interesting 
and  profitable  to  read.  They  are  found  in  every 
good  library.) 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Edward  IL,  a  great  pestilence  broke 
out  in  England.  It  is  known  in  history 
as  the  Black  Death.  It  reached  London 
from  the  continent  in  August  1347,  and  soon 
spread  over  every  part  of  the  island.  It  re- 
turned fourteen  years  later,  and  again  in  1369. 
During  these  twenty-two  years  it  is  believed 
that  one-half  of  the  people  in  England  died. 
This  reduced  the  number  of  laborers  on  the 
farms  and  greatly  increased  the  price  paid  for 
labor. 

For  many  years  the  landlords  had  been  ac- 
cepting a  money  rent  from  the  farmers  instead 
of  villein  service.  The  king  and  parliament  at- 
tempted to  keep  down  the  price  of  labor  by  en- 


A  Short  Story  of  a  Long  Period  147 

acting  severe  laws  to  punish  those  who  refused 
to  work  for  the  old  wages,  but  ways  were  found 
to  evade  them. 

The  whole  industrial  system  of  England  was 
changed  by  this  pestilence.  The  death  of  one- 
half  the  farmers  resulted  in  freeing  the  other  half 
from  the  serfdom  imposed  by  the  feudal  laws. 
This  was  a  long  step  toward  freedom.  So  we 
see  that  unexpected  good  came  from  what  seemed 
at  that  time  to  be  evil  and  only  evil. 

It  was  more  than  150  years  from  the  death  of 
Edward  III.  to  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  During 
that  period  there  was  continued  strife  at  home 
or  with  other  nations,  and  between  the  state 
and  the  church.  Both  the  sovereigns  and  the 
churchmen  wanted  more  power  and  more  money, 
and  the  people  wanted  more  freedom.  Matters 
seemed  to  grow  worse,  so  far  as  the  liberties 
of  the  people  were  concerned.  But  gimpowder 
had  been  discovered,  and  they  had  begun  to 
use  muskets  in  the  place  of  battle  axes  and 
bows  and  arrows.  This  put  the  common  peo- 
ple on  more  nearly  equal  terms  with  the  mailed 
knights  and  lords.  A  musket  in  the  hands 
of  a  churl  was  more  dangerous  to  the  knight 
than  was  the  knight^s  sword  to  the  churl. 
When  the  knight's  armor  was  no  longer  a  de- 
fense against  the  churl's  bullet,  the  knight  be- 


148  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

came  more  respectful  and  considerate  in  his 
treatment  of  his  inferiors. 

It  was  at  the  battle  of  Crecy,  in  1346,  that 
cannon  were  used  for  the  first  time.  They  were 
not  very  dangerous  to  the  enemy,  for  they  were 
made  of  wood  boiind  with  straps  of  iron.  But 
they  made  a  loud  noise,  and  were  the  beginning 
of  those  guns  that  now  throw  a  shell  weighing 
many  hundred  pounds  a  distance  of  twenty-one 
miles. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  reign  of  King 
Edward  III.  has  ^'brought  us  face  to  face  with 
modern  England.'^  The  structure  of  the  govern- 
ment to-day  is  in  all  essential  particulars  what 
it  had  become  during  his  reign  (1336  to  1360). 
Under  him  all  the  different  departments  of  gov- 
ernment became  established  by  law  and  the 
courts  of  justice  took  on  that  form  they  have 
preserved  to  the  present  time.  He  was  the 
great  lawyer  king  and  .was,  in  one  sense,  the 
father  of  the  English  constitution.  The  laws 
of  his  reign  are  the  laws  of  England  and  of  Amer- 
ica to-day  and  will  be  enforced  by  the  courts, 
provided  no  later  laws  have  repealed  them.  It 
is  true  that  under  these  forms  of  law  very  much 
evil  was  done  by  the  kings  who  followed  Ed- 
ward, and  who  placed  in  the  offices  men  as 
wicked  and  tyrannical  as  the  kings  themselves. 
But  these  bad  things  could  be  done  because  the 


A  Short  Story  of  a  Long  Period  149 

representatives  of  the  people  permitted  them  to 
be  done.  If  the  people  had  always  stood  for 
freedom  and  had  elected  patriots  like  Simon 
Montfort  to  represent  them  in  parliament,  the 
kings  would  not  have  been  permitted  to  oppress 
the  people  as  they  did.  When  the  people  do 
not  care  enough  for  their  freedom  to  elect  honest 
and  patriotic  men  for  their  lawmakers  they  do 
not  deserve  to  be  free. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  in  1470,  that 
the  first  printing  press  was  set  up  in  England. 
Caxton  was  the  first  printer,  and  is  said  to  have 
printed  ninety-nine  books  in  his  lifetime.  From 
Edward  III.,  who  succeeded  Edward  II.,  to 
Henry  VI.,  was  one  hundred  years,  and  during 
nearly  all  of  this  period  England  was  carrying 
on  war  with  France.  The  English  were  finally 
defeated  and  driven  out  of  France  by  a  young 
girl;  whom  the  French  called  'The  Maid  of  Or- 
leans," but  who  is  known  in  history  as  Joan  of 
Arc.  (1440)  Her  story  is  a  very  interesting 
and  pathetic  one.  Every  American  boy  and 
girl  ought  to  read  it.  It  shows  the  wonderful 
power  of  a  strong  conviction,  a  noble  purpose, 
and  a  pure  heart,  to  bring  great  things  to  pass. 

For  thirty  years,  from  1455  to  1485,  the  rival 
houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  contended  for 
the  throne  of  England.  It  was  called  the  War 
of  the  Roses,  because  one  party  chose  the  white 


150  The  Plantagenet  Kings 

rose  for  its  emblem  and  the  other  the  red  rose. 
These  roses  had  terrible  thorns,  it  would  seem. 
It  was  a  war  between  the  nobles  of  England 
and  very  many  of  them  were  slain.  Not  much 
good  seems  to  have  come  of  it,  more  than  that  it 
opened  the  way  for  the  Tudor  family  to  come  to 
the  throne.  But  it  really  did  more  than  this. 
It  gave  the  death  blow  to  expiring  feudalism. 
This  war  closed  with  the  overthrow  and  death 
of  Richard  III.,  and  the  crowning  of  Harry  of 
Richmond  as  king.  You  can  learn  much  about 
Richard  and  the  times  in  which  he  lived  by  read- 
ing Shakespeare's  play  of  ^^King  Richard  III.'' 
In  the  next  chapters  you  will  learn  something 
of  the  reign  of  the  Tudors  in  which  many  things 
occurred  of  great  importance  to  England  and  to 
America. 

One  peculiar  thing  about  the  War  of  the  Roses 
was  that  common  people  were  not  much  dis- 
turbed by  it.  It  was  a  war  between  the  great 
feudal  lords  who  employed  professional  soldiers 
and  their  own  retainers  to  aid  them;  but  they 
did  much  of  the  fighting  themselves.  The  com- 
mon people  carried  on  their  business  much  cs 
usual,  and  were  about  as  prosperous  as  in  times 
of  peace.  The  country  grew  rich  all  the  time, 
except  in  great  lords.  They  killed  one  another 
until  not  half  a  dozen  great  families  remained. 
In  King  John's  time  there  were  from  twenty- 


A  Short  Story  of  a  Long  Period  151 

five  to  thirty  of  these  great  f  amiUes  in  all  Eng- 
land, but  during  the  following  reigns  they  had 
greatly  increased  in  numbers  and  wealth. 

In  the  War  of  the  Roses  those  who  made  the 
quarrel  were  the  ones  who  did  the  fighting. 

GEOFFREY   CHAUCER. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Richard.  II.,  who  suc- 
ceeded Edward  III.,  (1370-1390)  that  the  first 
great  book,  since  the  English  poem  of  Caed- 
man  in  664,  was  written  in  the  English  tongue 
by  Geoffrey  Chaucer,  who  is  called  the  father 
of  English  poetry.  It  is  a  collection  of  poems, 
known  as  'The  Canterbury  Tales, ^'  and  they 
tell  us  much  about  the  social  life  of  the  English 
people  at  that  time,  which  cannot  be  learned 
from  any  other  source.  The  book  in  its  original 
form  shows  what  the  English  language  was  600 
years  ago.  The  French  of  the  Normans,  the 
Latin  of  the  scholars,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  of 
the  English  had  become  mixed  together  in  the 
daily  speech  of  the  people,  and  Chaucer's  Tales 
gave  it  a  literary  form  quite  distinct  from  the 
other  languages  from  which  it  sprang.  The 
poet,  Edmund  Spenser,  Shakespeare's  contem- 
porary, who  wrote  the  Fairie  Queen  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  called  these  poems  "a,  well  of  Eng- 
lish undefiled." 


152  The  Plantagenet  Kmg§ 

There  was  no  printing  press  in  Chaucer's  tinre/ 
and  all  the  first  copies  of  Chaucer's  book  were 
written  with  a  pen.  The  first  books  were 
printed  in  England  about  one  hundred  years 
later. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

How  long  did  the  Plantagenets  rule?  What  constitutes  the  Com 
mon  law  of  England?  Do  you  think  that  the  early  education  of 
Henry  III.  made  him  more  favorable  to  arbitrary  rule?  Give  rea- 
son for  your  opinion.  How  did  the  rule  of  Edward  I.  differ  from  that 
of  Henry  III.?  Tell  of  the  Battle  of  Bannockbum.  What  was  the 
Stone  of  Destiny?  Where  is  it  now?  When  were  the  first  cannon 
used  by  the  English  in  battle?  How  did  gunpowder  work  toward 
the  greater  freedom  of  the  common  people?  What  were  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses?  How  did  they  differ  from  other  wars?  What  were 
the  two  rival  houses  at  this  time?  What  was  the  effect  of  these  wars 
upon  the  feudal  system  in  England?  How  long  did  they  continue? 
Who  was  the  last  of  the  Plantagenet  kings?  Did  he  belong  to  the 
House  of  Lancaster  or  to  the  House  of  York?  Name  three  of  the 
greatest  Plantagenet  kings. 


THE  TUDOR  KINGS. 

1485—1603. 


XV. 

HENRY  VII. 

1485—1509. 

The  Wars  of  the  Roses  came  to  an  end  with 
the  Battle  of  Bosworth  Field  (1485)  where  Rich- 
ard III.  was  slain  and  Henry  Tudor  won  the 
crown  of  England.  With  this  battle  the  Plan- 
tagenets  ceased  to  rule  and  the  reign  of  the  Tu- 
dors  began.  The  Plantagenet  family  had  ruled 
England  for  331  years  in  which  long  period  much 
good  had  been  done  by  them,  mixed  with  not  a 
little  that  was  evil.  The  kings  that  did  most 
for  the  liberties  of  the  people  during  this  period 
were  Henry  II.,  Edward  I.  and  Edward  III. 
These  three  worked  for  improvement  in  the  gov- 
ernment by  giving  the  representatives  of  the 
king^s  subjects  some  voice  in  making  the  laws. 
They  were  Plantagenet  kings,  but  they  loved 
the  English  people  more,  if  they  did  not  love 

153 


154  T^he  Plantagenet  Kings 

themselves  less  than  did  most  other  rulers  who 
belonged  to  this  family. 

Edward  IV.  was  the  last  of  this  house  whose 
reign  of  twenty-two  years  (from  1461  to  1483) 
made  any  permanent  impression  upon  the  gov- 
ernment. It  was  he  who  set  at  naught  much 
that  Edward  III.  had  done  to  establish  a  free 
parliament  and  give  to  the  people  a  voice  in 
the  making  of  their  laws.  He  was  personally 
very  popular;  keen  and  capable  as  a  soldier 
and  a  statesman,  but  of  a  dissolute  charactei. 
His  reign  was  the  beginning  of  that  despot- 
ism which  became  very  oppressive  under 
the  Tudors.  The  rights  of  the  people  to  a 
voice  in  making  the  laws  by  which  they  were 
governed  were  ignored,  and  the  will  of  the 
king  became  the  law  of  the  land.  How  it 
was  possible  for  one  man  to  so  change  the 
character  of  the  government  of  freedom-loving 
Englishmen  we  have  not  room  in  this  little  book 
to  tell.  But  so  many  perils  were  besetting  the 
business  of  the  country  and  the  wealth  of  the 
church,  and  there  was  so  much  discontent  and 
revolutionary  spirit  among  the  common  people, 
that  the  wealthy  and  powerful  in  the  land  were 
glad  to  have  a  king  on  the  throne  who  was  brave 
enough  and  strong  enough  to  protect  the  country 
from  these  many  dangers.  And  so  it  happened 
that  the  kings  of  England  ceased  to  be  consti- 


Henry  VII  155 

tutional  kings  governed  by  the  great  charter, 
but  became  despots  who  declared  that  they 
had  a  right  to  do  wrong  if  it  so  pleased  them. 
It  was  a  despotism  which  continued  until  Oliver 
Cromwell  took  off  the  head  of  Charles  I.,  the  last 
of  the  kings  who  claimed  to  rule  by  divine  right. 
After  Oliver  Cromwell,  as  you  will  see  later,  con- 
stitutional government,  with  a  House  of  Com- 
mons and  a  House  of  Lords  to  represent  all 
classes  of  citizens,  took  the  place  of  the  despot- 
ism that  had  done  so  much  evil  and  not  a  little 
good  in  the  reign  of  the  Plantagenets,  the  Tu- 
dors,  and  the  Stuarts. 

But  it  should  be  remembered  that  these 
despotic  sovereigns  observed  the  forms  of  consti- 
tutional law  in  practicing  their  tyranny.  They 
chose  parliaments  that  would  do  their  bidding. 


The  history  of  the  people  of  Europe  is  divided 
into  three  long  periods.     They  are  called : 

1 .  Ancient  History ; 

2 .  History  of  the  Middle  period ; 

3.  Modern  History. 

Ancient  history  closes  with  the  overthrow  of 
the  Roman  Empire  by  the  northern  barbarians 
(400-500  A.  D.)  Modern  history  begins  about 
the  time  of  the  accession  of  the  Tudor  family  to 
the   throne   of   England  (1400).     The   Middle 


156  The  Tudor  Kings 

period  was  the  long  interval  of  1,000  years  which 
in  Europe,  was  marked  by  the  prevalence  of  the 
Feudal  system.  This  system,  as  you  have 
learned,  made  the  king  of  a  country  the  over- 
lord of  the  other  lords  and  barons,  who  did  him 
homage,  but  some  of  whom  were  often  more 
powerful  sovereigns  than  he.  You  have  seen 
how  King  John  was  compelled,  by  twenty-five 
barons  and  the  representatives  of  the  middle 
classes,  to  sign  a  charter  granting  to  them  cer- 
tain very  important  rights,  which  he  at  first  re- 
fused and  declared  that  to  grant  them  would 
make  him  their  slave. 

The  feudal  system  did  not  foster  arbitrary 
monarchy,  but  quite  the  contrary.  Under 
that  system  every  class  had  its  own  peculiar 
rights,  and  the  rights  of  the  lords  were  only  sec- 
ond to  those  of  the  king. 

The  breaking  up  of  the  Feudal  system  tended 
to  encourage  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  monarch, 
for  the  reason  that  the  barons  could  no  longer 
command  their  vassals  to  fight  against  the  king. 
So  the  king's  power  increased  as  that  of  the  lords 
grew  less.  In  England  the  Feudal  System  had 
ceased  to  exist  when  ^ 'Harry  of  Richmond"  be- 
came king.  The  War  of  the  Roses,  as  you  have 
learned,  was  especially  fatal  to  the  great  lords 
and  barons.  Most  of  these,  on  both  sides,  were 
killed  before  these  civil  wars  ended. 


Henry  VII 


157 


With  the  breaking  down  of  the  Feudal  System 
there  was  a  corresponding  breaking  away  from 
the  rule  of  the  church  over  the  thoughts  of  men. 
The  Protestant  Reformation,  led  by  Martin 
Luther,  expressed  the  strong  protest  of  the  Ger- 
manic race  against  the  right  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  to  dictate  what  men  should  think  and 
teach  about  religion. 

At  this  time  began  the  conflict  between  the  ar- 
bitrary power  of  the  king  and  the  freedom  of 
the  people  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  between 
the  authority  of  the  church  and  the  right  of  free 
thought  in  religion  on  the  other.  The  beginning 
of  these  conflicts  marked  the  beginning  of  Mod- 
em History. 

THE   TIIDOR    FAMILY. 

The  Tudor  fam- 
ily began  to  reign 
in  England  with 
the  accession  of 
Henry  VII.  in 
1485.  The  mother 
of  Henry  VI.  was 
the  grandmother 
of  Henry  VII.  But 
the  grandfather  of 
Henry  VII.  was  a 
Welsh  gentleman 
whose   name   was 


HENRY  VII. 


158  The  Tudor  Kings 

Owen  Tudor.  Harry  of  Richmond,  his  grand- 
son, was  the  Duke  of  Richmond  when  Richard 
III.  was  king.  Henry's  father  and  mother  were 
both  Enghsh,  while  all  the  Plantagenet  kings 
had  either  fathers  or  mothers  who  belonged  to 
foreign  families.  Henry  VII.  was  therefore  a 
truly  English  monarch  and  he  was  the  first  king 
of  the  Tudor  dynasty.  He  was  not  next  to  the 
throne  by  birth,  but  the  birthright  successor  was 
too  weak  to  make  head  against  Richard  III. 
and  the  ho.use  of  York.  Might  helped  to  make 
right  in  this  case. 

In  his  play  of  Richard  III.  Shakespeare  de- 
scribes the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field,  where 
Richard  was  defeated  and  slain.  It  may  not  be 
exactly  true  to  the  facts  of  history,  but  it  is  true 
to  the  spirit  of  the  time,  which  is  the  more  im- 
portant thing.  The  manner  of  Richard's  death 
and  the  crowning  of  Henry  on  the  battlefield 
as  told  by  Shakespeare  are,  probably,  true  to 
history. 

There  were  five  Tudor  sovereigns  in  all.  They 
were:  Henry  VIL,  Henry  VIII.,  Edward  VI., 
Queen  Mary  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  last  three 
being  children  of  Henry  VIII.  Of  these  Henry 
VIII.  and  Elizabeth  were  two  of  the  ablest  and 
strongest  rulers  England  ever  had,  and  much 
happened  during  their  reigns  to  which  we  in 


Henry  VII 


159 


America  are  indebted  for  our  ideas  of  freedom 
and  of  government. 

Henry  VII.  was  not  a  great  king.  He  ruled 
twenty-four  years  and  acquired  great  wealth  by 
very  questionable  means.  He  used  some  of  his 
wealth  to  pay  the  ^'yeomen  of  the  guard/'^  which 
was  the  first  standing  arm}^  in  England.  It  was 
not  a  large  one,  but  it 
was  the  beginning  of 
what  is  now  that  great 
army  which  is  contin- 
ually on  duty  in  tim^s 
both  of  peace  and  war, 
and  which  is  paid,  not 
by  the  king,  but  by  the 
parliament  of  England. 
That  is  to  say,  it  is  paid 
by  the  people  of  Eng- 
land, through  their  rep- 
resentatives in  the 
House  of  Commons. 

If  one  visits  the  tower 
of  London  to-day  he 
will  find  the  yeomen  of 
the  king^s  guard  dressed 
in  the  same  uniform 
that  they  wore  in  the 
time  of  Henry  VII. 
Whenever    the     king  yeoman  of  the  guard  . 


160  The  Tudor  Kings 

passes  in  state  along  the  streets  of  London  this 
guard  accompanies  hijn.  It  was  a  necessary 
protection  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII.,  for  he  had 
many  enemies  who  sought  to  take  his  life ;  but 
it  is  now  only  a  guard  of  honor  to  the  king. 

Henry  VII.  had  a  good  reason  for  making  a 
strong  government,  and  for  having  a  strong 
guard  to  protect  him.  He  was  the  leader  of 
the  house  of  Lancaster,  and  the  great  family  of 
York  were  his  natural  enemies.  He  sought  to 
unite  the  two  families  by  taking  for  his  wife  a 
lady  of  high  rank  who  belonged  to  the  Yorkists. 
This  converted  many  of  his  enemies  to  friends, 
but  many  enemies  remained  who  continually 
sought  his  life. 

He  also  determined  to  break  up  the  practice, 
common  among  the  wealthy  nobles,  of  main- 
taining large  retinues  of  soldiers,  which  were  a 
never-failing  source  of  disorder  wherever  the  no- 
bles assembled,  and  a  constant  menace  to  the 
king  when  the  nobles  were  his  enemies.  A  law 
was  enacted  abolishing  this  custom  and  the  king 
revived  the  Court  of  the  ^^Star  Chamber' '  to  en- 
force it.  (This  court  was  first  created  by  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror  to  protect  the  Jews  from 
persecution  and  robbery  by  the  Christians.) 
Heavy  fines  were  imposed  upon  all  offenders  and 
much  money  came  into  the  king's  treasury  from 
this  source.     One  day  King  Henry  made  a  visit 


tienry  VII  161 

of  friendship  to  one  of  the  greatest  lords  of  Eng- 
land. The  lord  in  honor  of  his  king  received 
him  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony.  The  re- 
tainers of  this  lord  were  drawn  up  in  line  on 
both  sides  of  the  way  for  a  long  distance  to  do 
honor  to  their  sovereign.  When  the  king's  visit 
was  over  and  he  was  taking  his  departure  he 
said  to  his  host,  in  bidding  him  adieu :  "1  thank 
you,  my  lord,  for  your  good  cheer;  but  I  cannot 
endure  to  have  my  laws  broken  so  openly  and  in 
my  presence.  My  attorney  must  speak  with 
you.''  That  little  talk  with  the  king's  attorney 
cost  the  noble  fifty  thousand  (50,000)  dollars, 
which  would  be  equal  in  value  to  nearly  half  a 
million  at  this  time.  By  methods  such  as  this 
Henry  at  his  death  had  become  one  of  the  richest 
kings  England  ever  had. 

This  court  was  called  ^'Star  Chamber/'  it  is 
said,  because  the  ceiling  of  the  room  in  which 
the  court  assembled  was  decorated  with  stars. 
There  is  a  better  reason  for  this  name  given 
by  Mr.  Green,  the  historian.  He  states  that 
since  the  Jews  were  the  bankers  of  the  king  and 
of  all  who  wished  to  borrow  money,  and  since 
the  Jews,  before  the  court  was  created,  had  no 
legal  rights  in  the  country  on  account  of 
their  religion,  and  were  not  permitted  to  bring 
suit  in  the  courts  of  law  to  compel  the  payment 
of  bonds  that  had  been  given  to  them  for  the 


162  The  Tudor  Kings 

money  they  had  loaned,  the  king  formed  a  special 
court  for  them,  and  it  came  to  be  called  Star 
Chamber,  because  ^'Starr^^  was  the  Hebrew  name 
for  a  promissory  note,  or  bond. 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  much  was 
done  to  establish  more  firmly  the  ideas  that  the 
personal  will  of  the  king  was  superior  to  parlia- 
ment in  determining  the  laws  that  should  gov- 
ern England.  His  successor,  Henry  VIII.,  as 
you  will  learn  later,  was  even  more  arbitrary 
than  his  father,  but  so  great  was  his  personal  pop- 
ularity that  much  was  forgiven  him  by  the  plain 
people,  who  did  not  feel  the  weight  of  his  iron 
hand  so  heavily  as  did  the  higher  classes. 

The  Yorkists  made  several  attempts  to  start 
a  rebellion  against  the  king,  but  the  people  in 
general  were  loyal  to  Henry  VII.  They  loved 
peace,  and  preferred  a  strong  man  at  the  head  of 
the  government,  even  if  his  right  by  birth  to 
the  throne  was  uncertain.  Besides,  he  had 
been  elected  by  Parliament,  which  alone  could 
give  him  a  legal  title  to  the  crown. 

At  one  time  a  priest  carefully  instructed  an 
impostor  by  the  name  of  Simnel  to  act  the  part 
of  Warwick.  Now  Warwick,  who  was  held 
prisoner  in  the  Tower,  was  nearer  to  the  throne 
by  birth  than  was  Henry.  The  Yorkists  pre- 
sented Simnel  to  the  people  as  Warwick,  who, 
they    declared,    had    escaped,    and    quite    an 


Henry  VII  163 

army  was  collected  and  invaded  England. 
They  were  easily  defeated  by  the  king^s 
troops,  and  the  king  showed  his  contempt  for 
Simnel  by  setting  the  pretended  Warwick  to 
work  in  his  own  kitchen  as  a  scullion.  The  true 
Warwick  was  still  in  the  Tower  and  was  shown 
to  the  people  by  order  of  the  king. 

At  another  time  it  was  reported  that  the 
princes  whom  Richard  III.  had  murdered  to 
clear  his  own  way  to  the  throne,  had  not  been 
murdered,  but  that  the  younger  of  them  had  es- 
escaped  and  was  seeking  assistance  to  gain  his 
rightful  inheritance.  The  Yorkists  chose  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Warbeck,  who  declared 
himself  to  be  the  prince,  and  told  a  plausible 
story  of  his  escape  from  his  enemies.  For  five 
years  this  pretender  was  kept  before  the  people 
and  even  the  rulers  of  France,  Austria,  Scotland 
and  the  Emperor  Maximilian  gave  more  or  less 
aid  to  the  plotters,  believing  that  the  true  prince 
had  appeared.  Warbeck  invaded  England 
with  an  army  but  the  English  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  him.  His  force  was  attacked 
and  Warbeck,  the  leader,  ran  away,  like  the  cow- 
ard he  was,  and  sought  protection  in  a  monas- 
tery. Henry  showed  the  same  contempt  for  him 
that  he  had  shown  for  Simnel.  But  subse- 
quently he  became  troublesome  again,  and  was 
executed  by  the  king^s  order.     It  was  the  pre- 


164  The  Tudor  Kings 

tender  Warbeck  who  caused  the  execution  of 
the  unfortunate  Earl  of  Warwick.  The  earl 
was  convicted  of  conspiring  with  Warbeck  for 
another  invasion  of  England,  and  for  this  both 
met  their  death  on  the  scaffold. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  that 
Columbus  went  from  court  to  court  on  the  conti- 
nent begging  for  aid  to  explore  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  in  search  of  a  direct  route  to  the  East  In- 
dies. The  brother  of  the  great  navigator  went 
to  ask  aid  of  Henry,  but  he  was  captured  by  pi- 
rates and  was  retained  so  long  that  when  he 
finally  arrived  in  England  Columbus  had  set 
sail  under  the  patronage  of  the  king  and  queen 
of  Spain.  It  has  been  thought  by  some  that 
but  for  this  Henry  VII.  would  have  had  the  honor 
of  helping  Columbus  to  discover  America. 
But  we  may  well  doubt  this.  Henry  was  a 
shrewd  and  practical  man  of  business  but  he  had 
no  imagination,  and  a  strong  imagination  was 
needed  to  support  such  a  visionary  enterprise 
as  that  of  Columbus  was  then  thought  to  be. 

In  the  latter  years  of  his  reign  Henry  became 
unscrupulous  in  wringing  money  from  the 
wealthy,  without  burdening  the  poor.  He  died 
in  1509  at  the  age  of  fifty-two. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS, 
what  marked  ohange  in  the  government  that  began  with  Edward 
IV.?  What  were  the  social  conditions  that  favored  this  change?  What 


Henry  VII  165 

are  the  three  periods  of  history?  About  what  date  did  the  middle 
period  begin?  When  did  it  end?  What  system  of  government  pre- 
vailed during  the  middle  period?  Why  did  the  breaking  up  of  the 
feudal  system  favor  arbitrary  rule  of  the  king?  What  conflicts  in 
the  opinions  of  the  people  marked  the  beginning  of  modem  history? 
Who  was  Henry  VII.?  Why  was  he  called  a  Tudor  king?  When 
did  he  come  to  the  throne?  Have  you  read  Shakespeare's  play  of 
King  Richard  III.?  How  long  did  Henry  VII.  reign?  What  can 
be  seen  in  London  to-day  that  is  like  the  bodyguard  of  Henry  VII.? 
What  made  it  necessary  for  Henry  VII.  to  make  a  strong  personal 
government?  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Court  of  the  Star  Cham- 
ber? Why  called  "Star  Chamber"?  Tell  the  story  of  the  punish- 
ment by  Henry  VII.  of  a  great  noble  for  keeping  too  many  servahts. 
What  conspiracies  were  entered  into  by  the  Yorkists  to  dethrone] 
Henry  VII.? 


XVI. 

HOW  INDUSTRIES  GREW. 

You  learned  in  Chapter  XI  how  the  different 
industries  began  in  England.  The  people  at 
length  discovered  that  it  was  more  economical 
to  divide  up  the  labor  of  a  community  so  that 
certain  men  should  follow  special  trades.  In 
this  way  each  would  work  for  others  and  they 
would  work  for  him,  and  he  would  not  be  com- 
pelled to  do  everything  for  himself.  So  manu- 
facturers, or  makers  of  articles  that  many  peo- 
ple needed  for  use,  established  themselves  in  the 
towns.  As  the  towns  grew  several  persons  were 
needed  to  work  at  each  trade.  Some  would 
make  better  articles  than  others  and  the  same 
workman  would  make  different  grades  of  goods. 
How  should  the  price  be  regulated  so  that  the 
manufacturer  should  receive  for  his  products 
neither  more  nor  less  than  they  were  worth? 

There  were  three  classes  of  workmen  in  every 
trade : 

1.  The  master  workman,  who  carried  on 
the  business  and  employed  others  to  work  for  him. 

166 


How  Industries  Grew  167 

2.  The  journeyman,  who  had  served  seven 
years'  apprenticeship  in  learning  the  trade  and 
was  now  free  to  work  for  wages,  or  to  become 
a  master  and  carry  on  a  business  for  himself. 

3.  The  apprentice,  who  was  required  to  de- 
vote seven  years  to  learning  the  trade,  and  who 
lived  with  the  master,  or  at  his  expense,  during 
his  apprenticeship. 

The  work  done  by  the  master  was,  perhaps, 
more  valuable  than  that  done  by  the  journey- 
man, and  the  work  of  the  journeyman  would 
sell  for  more  than  that  done  by  an  apprentice. 
To  determine  what  price  should  be  paid  for  every 
kind  of  product,  the  master  workmen  in  each 
trade  united  in  an  association,  or  guild,  and 
some  one  was  selected  by  the  guild  to  pass  upon 
each  piece  of  work  and  fix  the  price  at  which  it 
should  be  sold.  In  these  guilds  we  seem  to 
find  the  beginning  of  our  labor  unions. 

As  the  people  became  more  wealthy  by  carry- 
ing on  trade,  and  as  money  increased,  they  be- 
gan to  pay  money,  instead  of  service,  to  the  king 
and  to  the  lord  of  the  manor.  These  payments 
came  to  be  known  as  taxes,  to  distinguish  them 
from  money  paid  for  the  use  of  the  land,  which 
was  called  rent. 

So  long  as  the  towns  were  small  and  there 
were  but  few  craftsmen  in  each,  all  the  crafts 
united  together  into  one  guild,  or  association. 


168  The  Tudor  Kings 

But  when  the  towns  grew  to  cities  there  were 
enough  men  in  each  craft  to  make  a  guild. 

These  guilds  regulated  the  amount  and  the 
price  of  all  manufactured  articles.  They  would 
diminish  the  amount  produced  when  the  de- 
mand fell  off,  and  increase  the  supply  when  the 
demand  was  great.  In  this  way  prices  were 
maintained.  The  guilds  also  decided  how  many 
apprentices  each  master  workman  might  have. 
They  would  not  permit  the  number  of  journey- 
men to  become  greater  than  the  masters  could 
employ. . ,  This  kept  in  the  hands  of  a  few  black- 
smiths all  the  work  in  blacksmithing,  and  so  too, 
of  the  wood  carpenters,  the  weavers,  the  tailors, 
the  plumbers,  and  all  other  craftsmen.  These 
rules  applied  only  to  towns.  In  the  country, 
where  agriculture  was  the  vocation  of  the  peo- 
ple, each  home  manufactured  for  itself  what  it 
needed,  or  paid  the  village  craftsman  for  it  in 
personal  service  of  some  kind. 

You  have  been  wondering  perhaps  how  any 
of  the  people  freed  themselves  from  the  service 
to  the.  manor  lord  so  that  they  could  carry  on 
trade  for  themselves. 

It  happened  in  this  wise:  The  towns,  Uttle 
by  little,  as  they  grew,  would  buy  privileges  of 
the  king  for  money.  Among  the  first  of  these 
privileges  w^-s  that  of  holding  fairs,  or  markets, 
where  people  came  to  buy  and  sell.     Later  they 


Hovf  Industries  Grew  169 

bought  the  right  to  make  their  own  laws  for  car- 
rying on  their  business;  and  so  one  privilege 
after  another  was  bought,  until  the  people  were 
permitted  to  pay  in  money  instead  of  personal 
service,  what  the  Feudal  law  demanded  of  them. 
This  was  called  ^^Commutation  of  Services/'  be- 
cause their  services  were  commuted,  or  changed, 
to  a  payment  in  money. 

The  king  and  lords  were  often  in  need  of 
money,  and  the  wealthy  towns  could  afford  to 
pay  a  good  round  sum  for  the  privilege  of  man- 
aging their  affairs  in  their  own  way.  You  re- 
member that  Richard  the  Lion  Heart  raised 
large  sums  by  selling  such  rights  to  towns  and 
cities. 

You  will  conclude  that  the  industries  Werie 
under  the  control  of  these  guilds  more  than  they 
were  under  the  control  of  the  king.  They  fixed 
the  quality,  the  quantity,  and  the  time  and 
place  of  sale,  and  also  the  price  of  every  article. 

This  guild  system  of  regulating  manufactures 
continued  to  control  production  in  most  cases 
until  a  quite  recent  period ;  say,  200  to  250  years 
ago.  When  commerce  with  other  nations  be- 
gan to  grow  in  England,  and  demand  for  goods 
for  the  foreign  trade  increased,  capitahsts  be- 
gan to  invest  mone}^  in  manufactories  and  disre- 
garded the  laws  of  the  guilds  in  the  employment 
of  labor.     Laborers  who  were  not  skilled  jour- 


170  The  Tiidor  Kings 

neymen  were  employed  quite  freely,  and  in 
towns  where  this  was  done  the  guilds  were  bro- 
ken up.  This  caused  a  scramble  among  labor- 
ers for  employment  which  reduced  wages,  made 
employment  uncertain,  and  increased  poverty 
and  crime  among  the  working  classes. 

The  breaking  up  of  the  guilds  and  of  the  feu- 
dal system  of  land  tenure,  by  which  the  poor 
man  was  sure  of  a  home,  greatly  increased  the 
number  of  homeless  and  dependent  poor  people, 
while  it  gave  opportunity  to  others  to  become 
very  wealthy. 

So,  you  see,  that  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  in- 
dustrial life  of  the  English  people,  similar  ques- 
tions as  to  the  rights  of  labor  and  the  rights  of 
capital  arose  that  prevail  at  the  present  time 
in  both  England  and  America.  The  govern- 
ment undertook  to  fix  by  law  the  wages  which 
the  laborer  should  receive,  but  the  conditions 
were  so  different  in  different  parts  of  the  king- 
dom that  the  laws  often  worked  injustice  to 
both  the  employer  and  the  laborer. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  was 
but  little  machinery  used  in  any  industry  except 
what  we  may  call  tools.  Wind-mills  and  water- 
mills  came  early  into  use  for  grinding  grain,  but 
it  was  not  until  it  was  discovered  that  steam 
could  be  used  as  power  that  machinery  for  doing 
many  different  kinds  of  work  was  invented. 


How  Industries  Grew  171 

We  shall  see,  later,  how  this  discovery  affected 
the  industries.  So  long  as  everything  was  done 
^'by  hand''  goods  were  produced  in  small  quan- 
tities, and  the  guilds  were  able  to  control  them 
in  large  measure. 

One  peculiarity  about  English  life  from  the 
time  of  King  John  to  that  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
was  that  the  people  in  the  country  and  smaller 
towns  looked  to  their  ministers  to  perform  mauy 
different  kinds  of  service.  They  not  only  in- 
structed the  people  in  religion,  but  they  were 
the  teachers  of  the  children,  the  doctors,  the 
lawyers,  the  advisers,  and  directors  of  the  par- 
ish government,  and  in  every  way  the  leading 
men  in  the  community.  You  may  remember 
that  in  our  own  colonial  days  for  a  hundred 
years  after  the  landing  of  the  pilgrims,  the  min- 
isters were  the  chief  men  at  the  head  of  public 
affairs  in  every  community. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

How  many  classes  of  workmen  were  there  in  each  trade  in  the  time 
of  the  Tudors?  What  was  a  guild?  What  association  of  workmen 
at  this  time  corresponds  to  it?  Who  declared  what  should  be  the 
price  at  which  the  different  kinds  of  articles  manufactured  should  be 
sold?  How  long  must  an  apprentice  work  to  learn  a  trade?  How 
was  it  that  the  towns  and  cities  first  began  to  free  themselves  from 
the  hard  rules  of  service  imposed  by  the  feudal  system?  What  did 
you  learn  about  this  in  the  story  of  Richard  the  Lion  Heart?  What 
was  the  beginning  of  the  overthrow  of  this  system?  Was  there 
much  machinery  in  use  during  the  guild  period?  What  were  the 
duties  of  the  .priests  and  preachers  during  the  first  three  dynasties? 


XVII. 

MARTIN  LUTHER. 

Martin  Luther  was  born  in  Germany  in  1483. 
His  parents  were  free  peasants.  That  is,  they 
were  free  from  service  to  feudal  lords  and  could 
choose  where  they  would  live  and  what  vocation 
they  would  follow.  They  would  have  been 
called  ' 'freemen^ ^  in  England,  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  villeins.  Luther's  family  was, 
therefore,  a  very  humble  one.  His  father  was 
a  common  laborer,  working  as  a  slate-cutter  and 
afterwards  as  a  miner,  and  finally  he  set  up  a 
forge  and  became  a  blacksmith.  He  made 
money  enough  in  his  shop  to  send  Martin  to  a 
Latin  school.  In  a  short  time  the  boy  distin- 
guished himself  in  his  studies  and  his  father  de- 
termined to  make  a  lawyer  of  him  and  sent  him 
to  ^  higher  school  taught  by  the  Franciscan 
monks.  He  and  some  other  poor  boys  united 
in  a  glee  club  and  sang  on  the  streets,  and  in 
this  way  they  paid  part  of  their  expenses. 

A  wealthy  lady  of  the  city  became  interested 
in  Martin's  fine  tenor  voice  and  sought  his  ac- 

172 


Martin  Luther  173 

quaintance.  Her  interest  grew  because  of  his 
superior  intelligence  and  gentle  manners  and 
disposition.  She  encouraged  him  to  gain  an 
education  and  gave  him  some  pecuniary  assist- 
ance. He  completed  the  college  course  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two. 

But  he  did  not  become  a  lawyer,  which  greatly 
disappointed  his  parents.  The  preaching  of  an 
eloquent  priest  filled  him  with  a  desire  to  save 
the  souls  of  men  rather  than,  to  defend  their 
property,  and  he  entered  a  monastery  imme- 
diately after  his  graduation.  There  he  pur- 
sued the  study  of  the  history  of  the  church  and 
of  the  Bible,  and  became  acquainted  with. the 
lives  of  many  of  the  churchmen  of  high  rank. 
His  study  and  his  observation  ixlike  convinced 
him  that  the  practices  of  the  churchmen  in  many 
particulars  did  not  conform  to  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  the  Great  Teacher.  After  three  years, 
in  the  monastery  he  became  professor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wittenberg. 

About  eight  years  after  Henry  VIII.  became 
king  (1517)  Luther  began  to  attack  with  great 
boldness,  in  his  lectures  at  the  Unversity,  some 
of  the  practices  of  the  Pope  and  the  bishops. 
He  contrasted  the  Master,  washing  the  disci- 
ples^ feet,  with  the  Pope,  holding  up  his  great 
toe  to  be  kissed ;  the  Saviour,  bearing  the  cross, 
with  the  Pope  carried  in  state  through  Rome  on 


174  The  Tudor  Kings 

men^s  shoulders ;  Christ  driving  money  changers 
out  of  the  temple,  with  the  Pope  selling  to 
wealthy  men  for  large  sums  of  money  certain 
privileges  called  indulgences,  which  were  for- 
bidden to  the  people  in  general.  These  and 
other  differences  between  the  Great  Teacher  and 
the  churchmen  he  set  forth  in  eloquent  sermons, 
and  even  in  pictures  for  the  common  people  who 
could  not  read.  He  beheved  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  Catholic  religion,  but  declared  that  the 
leading  churchmen  had  become  Corrupted  by 
wealth  and  power  and  were  no  longer  followers 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  Nazarene ;  and  that  they 
believed  that  religion  consisted  in  forms  rather 
than  in  purity  of  heart.  He  said  that  the  prac- 
tices of  these  churchmen  ought  to  be  reformed. 
Because  he  protested  so  stoutly  against  them 
he  was  called  the  great  protestant;  and  because 
he  insisted  upon  a  return  to  the  simple  and  pure 
rehgion  of  the  early  Christians  he  was  called  a 
reformer. 

You  have  seen  in  the  story  of  Henry  II.  how 
very  powerful  the  church  was  even  in  England. 
Luther,  single-handed  and  alone,  undertook  to 
break  this  power,  and  to  give  to  the  people 
everywhere  freedom  to  forsake  the  form  of 
worship  dictated  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  for 
another  form  of  worship  dictated  by  himself. 

The   German    people   were   aroused   by   hig 


Martin  Luther  175 

preachings  and  his  writings,  and  determined 
to  protect  him  from  punishment  by  the  pope 
and  cardinals,  and  from  the  kings  and  princes 
who  wished  to  have  the  rule  of  the  church 
continue.  Luther  was  declared  by  the  church 
to  be  a  heretic,  and  the  emperor  decreed  that 
he  was  not  fit  to  live  on  the  earth. 

But  before  it  came  to  this  the  German  people 
and  some  of  the  German  princes,  had  discovered 
that  although  Luther  might  be  a  heretic,  he 
was  struggling  for  something  that  they  thought 
was  right  and  they  would  not  permit  his  enemies 
to  take  his  life.  Luther  stood  at  first  for  reform- 
ing the  practices  of  the  church  but  later  he 
would  have  overthrown  it  altogether  had  it 
been  in  his  power  to  do  so. 

There  was  another  class  of  scholarly  men, 
like  Erasmus  and  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  stood 
for  something  different  but  quite  as  important. 
They  sought  to  lead  the  people  into  a  wider 
and  deeper  knowledge,  not  only  of  religion,  but 
of  history  and  of  the  world.  They  taught  that 
freedom  to  think  was  the  birthright  of  all  men. 
Some  of  the  churchmen  did  not  love  this  class 
of  heretics  much  better  than  they  loved  Luther » 
But  since  they  did  not  interfere  directly  with 
the  church  and  the  practices  of  churchmen  it 
was  not  easy  to  proceed  against  them. 

It  happened  also  that  Henry  VIII,  who,  in 


176  The  Tudor  Kings 

the  early  part  of  Luther's  career,  wrote  a  book 
in  answer  to  Luther's  attacks  upon  the  church 
and  for  this  was  called  by  the  Pope  ^  The  Defender 
of  the  Faith/'  became  afterwards  an  enemy  of 
the  Pope,  and,  although  he  never  approved  of 
Luther's  reform,  he  became  willing  that  the 
power  of  the  Pope  should  be  crippled  by  those 
who  did. 

You  can  see  that  these  things  all  united  to 
make  it  more  difficult  for  the  other  sovereigns  of 
Europe  to  unite  with  the  Pope  in  stamping  out 
the  Reformation  in  Germany  before  it  had 
spread  among  the  people.  After  the  people 
had  come  to  understand  that  a  larger  religious 
freedom  carried  with  it  a  larger  freedom  in 
thought  and  in  government,  no  monarch  was 
sufficiently  strong  to  check  for  long  the  spread 
of  the  Reformation.  Catherine  de  Medici  tried 
to  crush  it  out  by  attempting  to  murder  all  the 
Protestant  Huguenots  in  France  in  a  single 
night,  in  what  is  known  in  history  as  the  Massa- 
cre of  St.  Bartholomew;  but  that  attempt  seems 
to  have  resulted  in  placing  a  Protestant,  at 
heart,  on  the  throne  of  France  a  few  years  later. 
This  was  Henry  of  Navarre. 

The  Reformation  was  a  movement  toward  a 
larger  freedom  in  religion,  in  knowledge,  and  in 
government,  and  for  this  reason  the  world  will 
ever  hold  the  memory  of  Martin  Luther  in  grate- 


Martin  Luther  17^ 

ful  remembrance.  The  influence  of  this  protest 
upon  the  Roman  CathoUc  Church  itself  has  been 
to  promote  a  larger  freedom  of  thought  and  a 
purer  practice  than  existed  when  Martin  Luther 
nailed  his  protest  against  the  practice  of  religious 
teachers  to  the  door  of  the  church  in  Wittenberg. 
Freedom  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  the  conscience  of  the  worshiper  owes  a 
great  deal  to  Martin  Luther.  He  was  the  first 
to  demand  for  the  people  the  right  to  read  the 
Bible  in  their  own  tongue,  and  to  decide  for  them- 
selves what  duties  it  imposed  upon  them.  But 
if  we  would  be  fair  in  our  judgment  of  him  we 
should  bear  in  mind  that  he  did  not  believe  that 
others  should  have  the  same  freedom  to  decide 
for  themselves  what  were  the  teachings  of  the 
Bible,  that  he  claimed  for  himself.  He  was 
quite  as  ready  to  regard  Protestants  who  did  not 
agree  with  him  as  heretics,  as  the  bishops  of  the 
Catholic  Church  were  to  so  regard  him.  There 
was  some  truth  in  the  charge  that  he  was  quite 
as  much  of  a  pope  in  his  disposition  as  was  the 
Bishop  of  Rome.  But  he  had  not  the  Pope's 
power,  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  many  differ- 
ent sects,  or  denominations,  of  Protestants, 
sprang  up,  and  this  number  is  increasing  as  tim.e 
goes  on.  Every  one  is  now  permitted  by  the 
law  to  interpret  the  Bible  as  seems  most  reason- 
able to  him,  and  to  teach  his  views  to  others. 


178  The  Tudor  Kings 

The  Emperor  of  Germany  had  condemned 
Luther,  but  he  was  too  busy  with  more  impor- 
tant matters,  for  two  or  three  years,  to  give  any 
attention  to  the  preaching  of  an  eccentric  priest, 
as  he  conceived  Luther  to  be.  Before  the  other 
matters  were  settled  the  great  preacher  had  won 
many  of  the  German  princes  and  their  people 
to  his  cause.  It  was  then  impossible  for  the 
Emperor  to  arrest  and  punish  Luther  as  he  had 
intended  to  do.  His  friends  were  too  numerous 
and  too  powerful.  They  hid  Luther  away  in  a 
lonely  castle  in  a  forest,  where  he  spent  much 
of  his  time  in  translating  the  Bible  into  German; 
and  he  wrote  many  tracts  which  were  distrib- 
uted among  the  people.  The  Emperor  finally 
decreed  that  the  princes  should  be  free  to  wor- 
ship as  they  chose,  but  the  people  were  required 
to  believe  what  the  princes  believed. 

There  was  not  much  freedom  about  this,  but 
the  Germans  had  a  grievance  of  long  standing 
against  Rome,  and  this  gave  them  an  opportun- 
ity to  free  themselves  from  a  tyranny  that  had 
been  galling  them  for  many  years. 

There  were  wars  between  the  conflicting  pow- 
ers, and  many  conflicting  interests  united  to  fa- 
vor the  Protestant  cause.  When  Luther  died 
it  seemed  as  if  the  Protestant  religion  would  su- 
persede the  Catholic  in  all  of  northern  Europe 
in  a  few  years ;  but  it  soon  became  evident  that 


Martin  Luther  179 

the  reformers  had  many  trials  to  undergo  before 
rehgious  freedom  could  be  secured. 

Luther  became  a  churchman  when  twenty- 
two  years  old,  and  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-two. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  there  were  several  sect3 
of  Protestants,  who  dishked  each  other  quite 
as  much  as  they  dishked  the  mother  church. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

When  was  Martin  Luther  bom?  Compare  this  date  wit!i 
that  of  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  Tudor  family.  Who 
v/as  hi3  father?  What  vocation  did  his  father  wish  Luther  to 
follow?  Why  did  he  go  into  the  church?  What  was  his  reason  for 
attacking  the  practices  of  the  churchmen?  In  what  univcr.  ity  did 
he  begin  his  lectures?  What  new  movement  was  going  on  amon.7 
the  scholars?  Would  men  naturally  conclude  that  freedom  of  con- 
science and  freedom  to  think  ought  to  bring  freedom  to  act  accord- 
ingly? Bid  Luther  believe  in  the  right  of  every  one  to  a  free  con- 
science and  freedom  of  thought?  In  what  respect,  if  any,  was  the 
early  Protestant  Church  freer  than  the  Church  of  Rome?  What  did 
Luther  do  to  make  the  German  people  familiar  with  the  Bible?  Why 
did  not  the  authorities  punish  Luther  as  a  heretic?  What  do  you 
think  of  the  prevalence  of  the  spirit  of  toleration  among  men  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation? 


XVIII. 

HENRY  VIII. 

1509—1547. 

Model-n  history  did  not  fairly  begin  in  Eng- 
land until  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  His  father 
cleared  the  way  by  disarming  the  few  great  bar- 
ons and  lords  who  survived  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  and  subjecting  them  to  his  will.  He  es- 
tablished peace  and  a  reign  of  law  under  which 
the  people  prospered  and  grew  rich.  They  had 
no  influential  voice  in  the  government,  but  so 
long  as  they  were  not  oppressed,  were  not  taxed 
too  heavily,  and  were  left  free  to  carry  on  their 
business  under  just  laws,  they  were  willing  that 
the  king  should  rule  the  country. 

Henry  VII.,  as  has  been  said,  was  a  shrewd 
man  of  business,  who  sought  to  increase  the 
wealth  and  comfort  of  the  nation.  He  was  con- 
tent to  live  at  peace  with  other  nations,  and  to 
extend  trade  and  commerce  at  home  and  abroad. 
But  when  his  son,  Henry  VIII.,  became  king,  a 
great  change  began.  The  young  king  was  but 
eighteen  years  old  when  he  took  the  place  of  his 

180 


Henry  VIII  181 

father.  He  was  young,  handsome,  well  edu- 
cated, a  lover  of  sports,  ambitious,  and  popular 
with  the  people.  They  called  him  '^ Bluff  King 
Hal."  They  thought  him  ^ 'every  inch  a  king.'^ 
Indeed,  throughout  Europe  he  was  spoken  of  as 
the  ' 'handsomest  and  kingliest  king  in  Europe.'' 
This  could  not  be  truly  said  of  him  in  later  years, 
as  his  picture  testifies. 

He  chose  Wolsey  for  his  prime  minister  on 
coming  to  the  throne.  Wolsey  had  been  in  the 
service  of  his  father's  prime  minister,  and  he 
and  Henry  were  close  friends.  Wolsey  became, 
ere  long,  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  that  Eng- 
land ever  had.  His  influence  among  the  crowned 
heads  of  Europe  was  so  great  that  it  was  said 
that  ''England  held  the  peace  of  Europe  in  the 
hollow  of  her  hand."  Wolsey,  Hke  Henry  VH., 
was  an  advocate  of  peace.  He  thought  peace 
better  than  war  for  England,  and  that  Henry 
could  gain  greater  renown  by  acting  as  peace- 
maker than  by  fighting. 

For  twenty  years  Wolsey  was  Henry's 
trusted  servant,  but  Henry  was  the  master  from 
the  first.  He  preferred  war  to  peace,  and  had 
soon  spent  all  the  great  fortune  his  father  had  left 
him  in  his  ambitious  schemes  to  recover  Eng- 
land's former  territory  in  France.  He  engaged 
in  several  wars  and  it  is  said  that  he  never  lost  a 
battle;  but  he  gained  little,  either  in  territory 


182 


The  Tudor  Kings 


or  in  power  by  all  his  fighting.  Like  Richard, 
the  Lion  Heart,  he  was  the  idol  of  the  English 
people,  and,  like  Richard,  he  continued  to  de- 


Holbein 


KING   HENRY   VIII. 

In  the  later  years  of  his  reign. 


mand  of  them  large  sums  of  money  to  pay  his 
debts. 


Hmry  VIII  183 

But  the  thoughts  of  men  had  moved  on  a  long 
distance  since  the  time  of  Richard  I.  Martin 
Luther,  as  you  have  learned,  had  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  movement  among  the  Germans 
to  break  away  from  the  Church  of  Rome.  These 
Protestants  were  also  active  in  England  and 
France.  There  was  also,  as  you  have  learned, 
a  new  learning  beginning  to  be  taught  by  the 
great  scholars  of  the  world,  which  held  that 
man's  mind  was  free  to  discover  new  truth  in 
science  and  elsewhere,  even  though  some  of  this 
truth  did  not  agree  with  the  teachings  of  the 
church.  In  short,  the  people  had  begun  to  think 
more  for  themselves,  and  this  was  the  beginiiing 
of  modem  life  and  modern  history. 

Now,  Henry  VIII.  set  his  face  hard  against 
the  new  religion,  but  encouraged  the  new  learn- 
ing. He  wrote  a  book  defending  the  Catholic 
Church  against  the  attacks  made  by  Luther  and 
the  other  Protestants,  and  sent  a  richly-bound 
volume  to  the  Pope.  His  holiness  was  pleased, 
and  rewarded  him  by  giving  him  the  title  of  De- 
fender of  the  Faith.  (This  is  one  of  the  titles  of 
the  king  of  England  to-day,  but  it  does  not  mean 
the  same  as  when  Henry  received  it.) 

During  this  period  of  twenty  years  Wolsey  had 
served  Henry  and  the  church  faithfully,  and 
with  great  ability.  He  had  become  cardinal  of 
the  church  and  very  wealthy.     He  lived  in  grand 


184  The  Tudor  Kings 

style,  only  inferior  to  that  of  the  king  himself. 
He  endowed  a  great  school,  called  Cardinal  Col- 
lege (now  Christ  Church)  at  Oxford,  and  another 
at  Ipswich.  He  planned  great  things  for  the 
spread  of  education  throughout  England,  but 
Henry's  demands  for  money  for  his  own  schemes 
prevented  their  fulfillment.  It  is  said  that  in  his 
household  were  ^^^e  hundred  persons  of  noble 
birth  who  did  service,  and  that  the  head  servants 
were  knights  and  barons  of  the  realm.  This 
pomp  and  display  were  signs  of  power  at  that 
time;  the  greater  the  pomp  the  greater  the 
power. 

But  Wolsey  was  too  great  a  statesman  to  be 
the  most  obedient  of  servants.  The  king's  de- 
sire to  join  in  the  wars  of  the  other  great  powers 
he  strongly  opposed.  This  gave  his  enemies  the 
opportunity  to  question  his  loyalty  to  the  king, 
which  they  were  not  slow  to  improve.  But  so 
long  as  Wolsey  was  successful  in  doing  the  work 
the  king  set  him  to  do  he  kept  him  in  office,  for 
he  knew  how  great  was  his  ability.  Wolsey  had 
shown  to  Henry  the  power  of  England,  and  when 
the  time  came  for  him  to  declare  his  independ- 
ence of  the  church,  Henry  knew  that  he  could 
take  the  step  without  great  peril  to  himself  or 
his  kingdom.  He  had  learned  that  ^^his  ene- 
mies were  quite  as  much  afraid  of  him  as  he  was 
of  them." 


Henry  VIII  185 

Wolsey  was  expected,  as  prime  minister,  to 
provide  Henry  with  the  money  he  needed,  but 
as  these  demands  increased  he  found  it  more  and 
more  difficult  to  persuade  parUament  to  vote  as 
he  ordered.  He  told  them  that  they  and  the 
country  were  dependent  upon  the  king,  and  that 
it  was  a  kind  of  treason  to  refuse  to  supply  the 
king^s  needs. 

So  long  as  there  was  no  war,  he  could  find  ways 
to  obtain  the  money  for  the  expenses  of  the  gov- 
ernment without  calling  a  parliament.  For 
eight  years  there  was  no  war  and  no  parliament. 

Both  Wolsey  and  the  king  believed  that  the 
only  use  of  a  parliament  was  to  vote  money. 
But  when  the  king  determined  to  undertake  an- 
other war  the  parliament  must  be  called,  for  the 
law  was  very  plain  that  a  war  tax  required  the 
approval  of  the  king's  councilors.  The  par- 
liament assembled  and  Wolsey  went  before  them 
with  his  demand.  But  the  members  remained 
silent,  refusing  to  consider  the  matter  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Wolsey.  The  cardinal  appealed  to  the 
speaker,  who  was  the  great  Sir  Thomas  More, 
but  More  dropped  upon  his  knees  before  the  pow- 
erful chancellor  and  said:  ^'I  have  no  power  to 
reply  to  you  till  I  have  received  instructions 
from  the  hou  se . ' '  The  cardinal  could  do  nothing 
more,  for  he  was  not  the  king.  If  Henry  had 
made  the  demand  in  person,  probably  it  would 


186  The  Tudor  Kings 

have  been  granted.  You  will  learn  of  a  similar 
scene,  one  hundred  years  later,  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  and  in  that  case  it  was  the  king  him- 
self who  made  the  demand. 

King  Henry  had  harder  work  in  store  for  Wol- 
sey  than  forcing  money  from  an  unwilling  par- 
liament. 

This  was  to  secure  from  the  pope  a  bill  di- 
vorcing Queen  Catherine  from  the  king.  Cath- 
erine was  the'  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella of  Spain.  She  had  been  betrothed,  per- 
haps married,  to  Prince  Arthur,  Henry's  older 
brother.  But  Arthur  dying  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen years  (1502),  King  Henry  VH.  arranged 
for  the  marriage  of  Henry,  then  only  twelve 
years  of  age,  to  Catherine.  A  year  after  Hen- 
ry's accession  to  the  throne,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, he  was  formally  married  to  Catherine.  As 
there  was  a  law  in  the  church  forbidding  a  man 
to  marry  his  brother's  widow,  a  dispensation 
was  needed  from  the  Pope  to  make  the  marriage 
legal.  This  had  been  provided  by  Henry's 
father,  so  no  irregularity  existed  in  the  cere- 
mony. 

All  of  Henry's  sons  died  in  infancy,  and  but  one 
daughter,  Mary,  grew  to  womanhood.  He  came 
to  believe,  (or  professed  to  believe),  that  God 
had  cursed  his  marriage  with  Catherine,  because 
she. was  his  brother  Arthur's  widow.     Henr}' 


Henry  V in 


187 


VIII.  now  denied  that  the  Pope  had  any  author- 
ity to  set  aside  one  of  God^s  laws,  and  demanded 
of  Clement,  who  was  the  head  of  the  church,  that 
a  divorce  from  Catherine  be  granted.  This  was 
the  last  and  greatest  labor  imposed  upon  Wol- 


Holbein 


CARDINAL   WOLSEY, 


sey.  Wolsey  failed;  indeed,  there  was  no  pos- 
sibility for  any  man  to  succeed  in  this  undertak- 
ing, because  of  the  great  power  of  Catherine's 
relatives,  one  of  whom  was  then  Emperor  of 


188  •  Tke  Tudor  Kings 


Germany  and  the  most  powerful  monarch  in  all 
Europe. 

Because  of  Wolsey's  failure  the  king  stripped 
him  of  all  his  wealth  and  offices  and  finally  or- 
dered him  to  the  Tower,  ^^to  be  tried  and  exe- 
cuted'^ for  treason. 

A  fatal  sickness  seized  him  on  his  way  from 
York  to  London,  which  forced  him  to  rest  at  the 
Abbey  of  Leicester.  As  he  entered  the  gate  he 
spoke  feebly  to  the  good  abbot  and  his  brother 
priests  who  met  him,  and  said:  ^'I  am  come  to 
lay  my  bones  among  you.''  Later,  on  his  death- 
bed, he  was  ever  talking  of  the  king.  To  an  of- 
ficer of  the  Tower  he  said:  ^^He  is  a  prince  of 
most  royal  courage;  sooner  than  miss  any  part 
of  his  will  he  will  endanger  one-half  of  his  king- 
dom. Ah,  sir,  had  I  but  served  God  as  dili- 
gently as  I  served  my  king,  he  would  not  have 
given  me  over  in  my  gray  hairs . " 

In  Shakespeare's  drama.  King  Henry  VIII. , 
Wolsey  says  to  Cromwell,  his  friend  and  trusted 
servant : 

"O  Cromwell,  Cromwell, 
Had  I  but  sen'^ed  my  God  with  half  the  zeal 
I  served  my  king,  He  would  not  in  mine  age 
Have  left  me  naked  to  mine  enemies."       * 

So  died  Cardinal  Wolsey,  who  raised  England 
to  great  power  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
He  was  born  among  the  lowly,  a  child  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  lived  and  died  a  firm  believer  in  a  gov- 


Hmry  VIII  189 

ernment  for  England  in  which  the  king's  will 
was  supreme;  that  alone,  he  declared,  w^ould 
save  England  from  civil  strife  and  final  subjec- 
tion to  a  foreign  foe.  He  approved  of  the  di- 
vorce, because  he  wished  Henry  to  form  an  al- 
Hance  with  France  by  making  a  French  princess 
queen  of  England.  But  the  great  nobles  desired 
an  alliance  mth  Spain  and  war  with  France. 
Henry  had  schemes  of  his  own  which  some  other 
minister  than  Wolsey  must  help  him  to  work 
out. 

You  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  English 
people  held  Wolsey  responsible  for  the  oppressive 
acts  of  the  government,  because  he  was  the  min- 
ister and  adviser  of  the  king.  Henry,  the  real 
cause,  was  idolized  during  Wolsey's  life,  while 
Wolsey  himself  was  generally  hated  by  all  ex- 
cept his  intimate  friends.  Shakespeare  says 
that  he  was 

''Lofty  and  sour  to  those  who  loved  him  not; 
But  to  those  who  sought  him  sweet  as  summer." 

The  divorce  that  Wolsey  failed  to  obtain  from 
the  Pope,  Henry  determined  to  secure  by  other 
means.  He  declared  that  the  church  in  Eng- 
land was  free  and  independent  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  of  right  ought  to  be.  What  the 
Church  of  Rome  refused  he  commanded  the 
Church  of  England  to  grant,  and  it  was  done. 
His  marriage  with  Catherine  was  set  aside  and 


190  The  Tudor  Kings 

his  marri^-ge  with  Anne  Boleyn  (Ann  Bul-in) 
was  privately  solemnized  a  short  time  afterward. 
Henry^s  act  in  setting  at  naught  the  authority 
of  the  Pope  was  a  challenge  to  the  authority  of 
the  church,  which  was  immediately  accepted. 
The  conflict  that  followed  filled  England  with  a 
thousand  perils  and  threatened  the  king  with 
the  loss  of  his  crown.  You  can  hardly,  imagine, 
judging  from  present  conditions,  the  dangers 
which  at  that  time  beset  the  king  on  every  hand. 
Nearly  all  the  English  people  believed  in  the 
Catholic  religion,  but  Henry  was  careful  to  make 
it  clear  that  his  conflict  was  not  with  the  relig- 
ious faith  and  worship  of  the  church,  fie  simply 
declared  that  his  country  was  free  from  govesm- 
ment  by  the  bishop  of  Rome.  The  king  pro- 
claimed himself  to  be  the  governing  povver  of  the 
church,  while  he  admitted  that  the  Pope  was 
the  supreme  authority  in  all  matters  of  religious 
faitho  The  king's  new  minister,  Thomas  Crom- 
well, was  a  Protestant,  faithful  to  Henry's  cause, 
and  probably  the  ablest  pilot  in  England  to 
steer  the  ship  of  state  through  the  storm  that  was 
now  raging.  The  church  owned  one-fifth  of  all 
the  land  in  England  and  some  of  the  most  power- 
ful lords,  as  well  as  bishops  and  priests,  believed 
that  Henry's  claim  to  be  the  head  of  the  church 
in  England  was  treason  against  the  divine  law. 
But  the  education  of  the  people  since  the  time 


.    Henry  VIII  '191 

of  Edward  IV.  (seventy  years)  had  caused  them  to 
regard  the  king  as  supreme  in  the  government. 
Henry  agreed  with  Cromwell  that  the  will  of  the 
king  must  be  enforced  with  an  iron  hand,  but 
that  everything  must  be  done  according  to  the 
laws  of  the  land.  The  king  saw  Wolsey's  mis- 
take in  trying  to  force  parhament.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  win  the  people  and  parliament  by 
showing  them  that  the  interests  of  the  king  and 
their  own  interests  were  the  same,  and  that  they 
must  support  him  if  they  would  not  become 
subject  to  a  foreign  power. 

There  was  a  law  of  long  standing  in  England 
which  declared  that  any  man  who  acted  as  the 
representative  of  the  Pope  to  enforce  his  author- 
ity in  England  was  guilty  of  treason,  and  that 
those  who  obeyed  this  representative  were  also 
traitors.  Wolsey  had  disregarded  this  law  and 
acted  as  the  Pope's  legate  with  Henry's  approval 
and  consent.  The  law  had  been  ignored  for  many 
years  and  was  considered  a  dead  letter,  but 
Thomas  Cromwell  saw  in  it  the  means  of  bring- 
ing the  churchmen  into  his  power.  He  declared 
that  all  the  churchmen  and  the  people  who  had 
obeyed  them  had  committed  treason.  Henry  im- 
mediately granted  a  pardon  to  all  the  people,  but 
omitted  to  pardon  the  bishops  and  the  p"riests 
until  they  paid  him  a  very  large  sum  of  money 
and  took  an  oath  of   allegiance  to  the    King 


192  The  Tudor  Kings 

as  the  supreme  head  of  the  church  in  Eng- 
land. Those  who  would  not  take  this  oath 
either  fled  from  England  or  were  executed  as 
traitors.  Nearly  all  submitted.  Thus  the 
church  and  all  its  wealth  became  subject  to  the 
king  by  law. 

Cromwell  did  everything  according  to  the 
forms  of  law,  but  when  the  king  called  his  parlia- 
ment and  council  together  he  summoned  only 
such  as  were  known  to  be  of  the  king's  party.  So 
the  will  of  the  king  was  the  will  of  parliament. 

Henry  was  a  man  of  unbounded  courage  in 
meeting  an  open  enemy,  but  Cromwell  worked 
upon  his  fears  until  he  became  a  coward  in  his 
dread  of  secret  foes.  Cromwell  filled  the  coun- 
try with  his  spies,  whose  business  it  was  to  dis- 
cover the  thoughts  of  men.  Then  he  would  in- 
vent some  new  oaths  of  allegiance  which  honest 
men  must  refuse  to  take  if  they  would  not  perjure 
themselves.  In  this  way  he  brought  to  their 
death  many  of  the  greatest  and  best  men  of  Eng- 
land. Among  the  first  whom  he  beheaded  was 
Sir  Thomas  More,  whom  all  Europe  regarded  as 
the  greatest,  the  purest  and  the  best  of  English- 
men. His  offense  was  that  he  would  not  swear 
that  in  his  conscience  he  approved  of  the  divorce 
of  Queen  Catherine.  Yet  both  the  king  and 
Cromwell  knew  that  the  king  had  no  more  loyal 
subject  than  More  in  all  the  realm.     But  he 


Henry  VIII  193 

would  not  call  God  to  witness  to  the  truth  of  a 
lie. 

The  latter  years  of  Henry,  during  the  ministry 
of  Cromwell,  were  a  reign  of  terror  among  most 
of  the  people  of  note  and  influence  throughout 
England.  Only  the  Protestants  were  safe.  The 
common  people  knew  nothing  of  what  was  being 
done  at  court  and  Bluff  King  Hal  remained  their 
hero  to  the  end.  But  both  the  king  and  Crom- 
well knew  that  where  there  was  no  intelligence 
there  could  be  no  constancy. 

Bad  as  this  all  seems  to  us  now,  the  seeds  of 
liberty  of  conscience  and  of  freedom  of  the  peo- 
ple were  sown  during  this  reign,  and  that  of  Ed- 
ward which  followed,  as  never  had  been  done 
before. 

Cromwell  died  the  same  manner  of  death  that 
he  had  caused  to  be  inflicted  upon  Sir  Thomas 
More.  Angered  because  his  minister  had  ad- 
vised and  persuaded  him  to  marry  a  German 
princess,  whom  he  could  not  endure  because  of 
her  awkwardness  and  ugliness,  Henry  entered 
a  charge  of  treason  against  Cromwell  and  hur- 
ried him  to  the  block. 

Of  the  private  character  of  Henry,  especially 
after  his  divorce  from  Catherine,  not  much  good 
can  be  told.  He  married  five  wives  during  the 
last  fourteen  years  of  his  life.  He  beheaded  two 
of  these  (Anne  Boleyn  and  Catherine  Howard), 


194  The  Tudor  Kings 

divorced  one  (Anne  of  Cleves),  one  died  a  natural 
death  (Jane  Seymour,  mother  of  Ehzabeth)  and 
one  survived  him  (Catherine  Parr).  The  three 
children  who  survived  him  were  Mary,  whose 
mother  was  Catherine  of  Aragon,  Elizabeth,  whose 
mother  was  Anne  Bole^m,  and  Edward,  the  son 
of  Jane  Seymour. 

In  the  last  seven  years  of  his  reign,  after  the 
execution  of  Cromwell,  there  was  little  to  com- 
mend. He  was  pope  of  the  English  Church  for 
fourteen  years,  and  robbed  the  Cathohc  Church 
of  most  of  its  lands  and  of  its  rich  plate  and  jew- 
els, which  were  the  gifts  of  pious  people  for  cen- 
turies before.  These  all  were  wasted  upon  fa- 
vorites and  in  riotous  living.  He  decreed  that 
the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church  should  be 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  be- 
headed many  of  the  great  for  treason,  but  Crom- 
well, while  he  lived,  induced  him  to  close  his  eyes 
to  much  of  the  Protestantism  of  the  realm,  and 
so  heresy  grew  apace.  During  the  last  seven 
years  of  his  life  all  but  the  lowest  classes  came  to 
hate  the  king  for  his  cruel  exactions,  and  for  his 
immoral  life.  He  died  unlamented,  but  with 
the  independence  of  the  English  Church  fully 
established  as  the  law  of  the  land.  His  was 
the  first  declaration  of  the  independence  of  Eng- 
land. It  was  made  by  the  king  and  was  in- 
tended to  apply  only  to  the  king.     We  shall 


Henry  VIII  195 

learn  later  of  another  declaration  of  independ- 
ence by  the  English  people  against  the  tyranny 
of  their  king. 

Arbitrary  monarchy,  which  began  with  Ed- 
ward IV.,  reached  its  highest  point  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII.,  and  began  to  totter,  to  its  fall  be- 
fore he  died.  But  it  was  not  until  the  execution 
of  Charles  I.,  ninety  years  afterward,  ,  that 
arbitrary  monarchy  received  its  death  blow. 

Henry  died  a  natural  death,  notwithstanding 
the  wickedness  of  his  later  life,  after  be  had 
reigned  thirty-six  years. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  was  Henry  VIII.?  By  what  name  did  the  people  call  him? 
Hov.'  did  he  differ  from  his  father?  Who  was  his  first prinie minister? 
What  was  Henry's  success  in  war?  How  did  he  gain  the  title  of  De- 
fender of  the  Faith?  What  did  Wolsey  do  for  education  in  England? 
Bid  Wolsey  approve  of  Henry's  love  of  war?  Why?  Who  was 
Henry's  wife?  What  service  did  Henry  demand  of  Wolsey  which  he 
could  not  perform?  Why  could  he  not  do  it?  How  did  the  king 
punish  him?  Tell  the  story  of  Wolsey 'h  disgrace  and  death.  (Read 
it  in  Shakespeare's  "King  Henry  VIII.")  How  did  Henry  finally 
secure  a  divorce?  What  did  he  give  as  grounds  for  ^  divorce? 
What  was  Henry's  Declaration  of  Independence?  Did  he  still  hold 
to  the  Catholic  Faith?  By  what  trick  did  Henry  establish  by  law 
his  right  to  all  the  wealth  of  the  church?  Who  succeeded  Wolsey? 
Upon  what  plea  did  Henry  order  the  execution  of  Sir  Thomas  More? 
How  many  wives  did  Henry  have  after  he  divorced  Catherine?  What 
was  the  fate  of  each?     How  many  years  did  Henry  reign? 


XIX. 

HOW  THE  PEOPLE  LIVED. 

^Trom  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fifteenth  century  was  the  period  when 
the  guilds  controlled  the  industries  in  England/' 
That  was  a  period  of  300  years,  from  1150  to 
1450,  or  from  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  the  Plantag- 
enet  king,  to  Henry  VII.,  the  first  Tudor  king. 

This  statement  is  not  strictly  true.  In  many 
places  the  guilds  did  not  come  into  control  of  the 
industries  until  long  after  1150,  and  they  re- 
mained in  control  long  after  1450.  This  latter 
was  especially  true  in  the  rural  districts.  But 
in  the  large  cities,  and  other  centers  of  foreign 
trade,  the  first  statement  holds  good. 

How  was  business  carHed  on  after  the  guild 
period?  Or  perhaps  a  better  form  of  the  ques- 
tion would  be,  what  was  the  industrial  system 
that  gradually  took  the  place  of  the  guilds? 

You  remember  that  in  the  guild  system  the 
master  workmen  could  determine  how  many 
should  work  at  any  trade,  how  much  work  should 
be  done,  and  for  what  price  it  should  be  sold. 

196 


How  the  People  Lived  197 

They  sought  to  supply  only  the  demands  of  the 
people  of  the  town  and  of  the  country  immedi- 
ately surrounding  the  town. 

When  foreign  trade  began,  men  began  to  pur- 
chase a  quantity  of  raw  material  and  work  it 
up  into  manufactured  goods  to  sell  either  at 
home  or  abroad,  as  a  demand  arose c  The  first 
manufacturer  of  this  kind  was  called  a  clothier. 
He  purchased  wool  and  paid  for  having  it  made 
into  cloth.  There  were  men  to  do  each  part  of 
the  work.  One  set  of  men  carded  the  wool  and 
furnished  it  in  rolls  to  the  clothier;  others  spun 
these  rolls  into  yam;  another  set,  the  weavers, 
wove  the  wool  into  cloth.  Still  others  were  the 
fullers  and  dyers,  who  prepared  the  cloth  to  be 
made  into  garments.  One  person  might,  also,  re- 
ceive wool  from  the  clothier  and  return  it  in 
cloth  to  the  clothier,  performing  all  the  different 
stages  of  transformation  in  his  own  home.  The 
laborers  worked  by  the  piece,  or  pound,  return- 
ing the  number  of  pounds  of  rolls  or  of  yarn,  or 
of  cloth,  corresponding  to  the  amount  of  wool 
received.  The  clothier,  whom  we  now  call  the 
manufacturer,  then  sold  the  cloth  to  tailors,  or 
to  merchants,  or  to  any  one  who  would  pa}^  the 
market  price — sometimes  more  and  sometimes 
less.  This  was  a  transition  period  from  guild 
industry  to  factory  industry.  It  continued  in 
England  for  at  least  250  years,  or  from  1450  to 


198  The  Tudor  Kings 

1700,  and  the  factory  period  did  not  become  su- 
preme mitil  the  power  of  steam  had  been  dis- 
covered and  machinery  had  been  invented  for 
doing  what  had  been  done  before  by  hand. 
While  the  industries  were  slowly  going  through 
these  changes  for  six  hundred  years,  the  ques- 
tion of  money  became  an  important  one.  At 
fitst  the  king  permitted  individuals  to  coin 
money,'  but  required  that  it  should  be  of  a  given 
purit}^  and  weight.  These  men  after  a  while 
either  reduced  the  weight  or  added  more  alloy 
to  the  coin.  This  Was  called  ^^clipping  the 
coins. ^'  The  king  would  punish  these  coiners 
of  money  for  this  by  cutting  off  their  fingers,  or 
hands,  or  ears,  or  some  other  part,of  the  body, 
more  or  less,  according  to  the  amount  they  had 
stolen  from  the  coins.  By  and  b}^,  the  govern- 
ment took  in  hand  the  business  of  coining  money 
and  then  the  kings  themselves  took  to  ''clipping 
tho  coins";  but  there  was  no  one  above  them 
in  the  nation  to  clip  their  fingers  and  ears  to 
correspond.  It  is  said  that  Henry  VIII.  and 
his  immediate  successors  debased  the  English 
shilling  until  it  contained  less  than  one-seventh 
as  much  silver  as  it  ought  to  have.  This 
caused  everything  that  people  had  to  buy  to  rise 
to  several  times  its  real  value,  while  the  wages 
paid  for  labor  did  not  rise  one  half  as  much.  In 
this  case  the  sovereigns  became  thieves  and 


How  the  People  Lived  199. 

robbers,  and  they  were  the  more  infamous  be- 
cause they  robbed  the  poor. 

It  was  when  Queen  Ehzabeth  restored  the  coin- 
age to  an  honest  standard  of  purity  that  busi- 
ness of  all  kinds  began  to  prosper.  Money  is  the 
medium  of  exchange.  A  shilling  should  contain 
a  shilling's  worth  of  silver  if  it  is  to  be  given  in 
exchange  for  a  shilling's  worth  of  flour  or  of  wool. 
If  it  contains  less  silver  than  justice  requires, 
some  one  is  sure  to  be  defrauded,  and  it  is  quite 
apt  to  be  the  poor  man  who  has  not  the  oppor- 
tunities of  the  rich  to  protect  himself.  But 
little  by  little  this  and  all  other  important  mat- 
ters of  government  came  to  be  directed  by  par- 
liament, and  then  the  purity  and  weight  of  the 
coins  remained  unchanged,  or  were  changed  by 
due  process  of  law  so  that  no  one  suffered  loss. 

Facilities  for  transportation  grew  even  more 
slowly  than  the  industries  changed.  The  first 
coach  in  England  was  used  by  Queen  Elizabeth. 
It  was  heavy  and  clumsy,  made  without  springs, 
and  went  bumping  over  the  rough  roads  to  the 
great  discomfort  of  its  royal  inmate.  It  often 
required  ten  or  twelve  horses  to  pull  it  through 
the  mud,  and  they  could  not  go  faster  than  a 
walk.  But  little  was  done,  by  the  government 
to  secure  good  roads  until  a  short  time  before 
our  Revolutionary  War.  (1776)  People  trav- 
eled on  horseback,  and  goods  were  transported 


200  The  Tudor  Kings 

on  the  backs  of  horses  and  mules.  But  carts  for 
transporting  merchandise  were  used  long  before 
coaches  were  made.  Queen  Elizabeth  was  car- 
ried about  in  a  sort  of  sedan  chair  which  her 
courtiers  bore  upon  their  shoulders.  When 
she  took  a  long  journey  she  generally  rode  on 
horseback. 

Did  you  know  that  the  wives  of  George  Wash- 
ington and  of  John  Adams  could  not  attend  the 
inauguration  of  their  husbands,  as  presidents, 
because  they  were  not  able  to  ride  the  long  dis- 
tance on  horseback,  and  because  there  were  no 
roads  for  the  heav}^  coaches  then  in  use?  Eng- 
land was  some  better  off  at  that  time,  but  the 
difference  was  slight.  When  the  improvement 
of  the  roads  began,  it  progressed  more  rapidly  in 
England  than  in  America. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

During  what  period  did  the  Guilds  control  the  industries  in  Eng- 
land? During  what  dynasty?  Describe  the  industrial  system  that 
gradually  took  the  place  of  the  Guilds.  What  is  money?  Who 
were  the  first  money  coiners?  How  did  they  defraud  the  public? 
How  were  they  punished?  Who  next  robbed  the  people  by  ''clipping 
the  coins"?  To  what  extent  were  the  coins  debased  in  the  reigns  be- 
tween Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth?  When  she  restored  the  money  to 
its  full  value  what  was  the  effect  upon  the  business  of  the  country? 
How  was  the  first  royal  coach  constructed?  How  many  horses  were 
required  to  draw  it  over  the  bad  roads? 


XX. 

EDWARD  AND  MARY. 

1547  —  1558. 

Henry  VIII.  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-six  after 
a  very  active  and  arbitrary  reign  of  thirty-eight 
years.  The  Tudor  family  had  ruled  England 
for  sixty-four  years,  which  was  the  life  of  two 
generations  at  that  time.  A  majority  of  the 
English  people  had  been  born  under  a  govern- 
ment that  acknowledged  the  right  of  kings  to 
have  their  own  way.  But  a  star,  yes,  two  stars, 
had  arisen  in  the  east,  by  whose  light  the  divine 
right  of  the  people  ^^to  life,  liberty  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness"  was  to  be  discovered. 

One  of  these  stars  was  called  the  ^'new  learn- 
ing," -which  taught  that  the  people  should  have 
freedom  to  gain  knowledge  and  to  think  as  their 
reason  prompted.  The  kings  and  priests  had 
long  thought  for  the  people.  They  were  now  to 
begin  to  think  for  themselves. 

The  other  star  lighted  the  way  to  freedom  in 
religion  which  should  eventually  permit  every 

201 


202  The  Tudor  Kings 

one  to  worship  as  his  conscience  directed.  The 
scholars  were  apostles  of  the  ^^new  learning^' ;  the 
^ ^reformers  "  were  apostles  of  the  ^^new  religion. '^ 

But  the  ^'new  religion'^  found  no  favor  in  the 
eyes  of  Henry  VIII.  He  would  endure  it  so 
long  as  it  aided  hini  in  his  personal  conflict  wit!i 
Rome,  but  when  his  own  purpose  was  served  he 
would  have  no  more  of  it. 

He  could  not  trust  his  government  to  the 
•  Catholics,  however,  and  so  was  compelled  to 
leave  it  in  charge  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  who 
was  a  Protestant.  By  Henry^s  order  Parliament 
made  a  law  that  his  three  living  children  should 
be  heirs  to  the  throne  in  the  following  order : 

1.  Edward. 

2.  Mary. 

3.  Ehzabeth. 

Edward  was  but  ten  years  old  when  he  became 
king.  He  was  the  sixth  king  of  England  bear- 
ing that  name.  For  this  reason  he  is  known  as 
Edward  VI. 

EDWARD.  * 

,  Edward  being  too  young  to  conduct  thie  af- 
faires of  state,  his  f ather, .  before  his  death,  named 
a  regency  or  council  who  should  carry  on  the 
government  in  Edward's  name  tintil  he  should  be 
eighteen  years  old.  This  council  was  composed 
of  /'men  of  the  new  learning,"-,  most  of-^whoni 
were  of  the  ''new  religion'^   also.     This  gave 


Edward  and  Mary  203 

great  hope  and  comfort  to  the  Protestant  party 
in  England  who  soiight  to  change  at  once  the 
forms  of  worship,  as  well  as  some  of  the  religious 
doctrines  that  Henry  had  tried  to  enforce.  To 
counteract  the  tendency  toward  disorder  in  re- 
ligious practices  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
was  prepared,  which  has  been  used  by  the  Church 
of  England,  with  slight  changes,  down  to  the 
present  time. 

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  arranged  by 
Cranmer,  was  printed  in  the, English  language, 
and  took  the  place  of  the  service  in  Latin  which 
had  been  used  in  all  Catholic  churches  for  1,500 
years.  .   ' 

The  government  by  Edward's  Council  brought 
great  suffering  upon  the  laboring  people,  and 
the  reforms  in  the  church  services  were  disliked 
by  the  country  folk  generally.  The  country  peo- 
ple were  not  so  favorable  to  changes  in  religious 
doctrine  and  practice  as  were  the  inhabitants  of 
towns  and  cities. 

King  Edward  was  a  boy  of  delicate  health 
and  of  a  weak  constitution,  but  he  had  a  very 
active  and  precocious  mind.  The  following  exr- 
tracts  from  his  private  jpurnal  show  ,a  maturity 
of  thought  remarkable  and  almost  pathetic  in  a 
boy  thirteen  years  of  .ag€,  .arid  they  are  inter- 
esting also  as  showing  the  g^ttit^ude  of  his  sister, 
Mary,  towards  the  Reformation.   [The  saying  of 


204  The  Tudor  Kings 

mass  was  forbidden  by  the  English  law,  but  Mary 
still  continued  it  in  her  private  worship.] 

(edward^s  journal,  1550.) 

(March  18.)  The  lady  Mary,  my  sister,  came 
to  me  at  Westminster,  where,  after  salutations, 
she  was  called  with  my  Council,  into  a  chamber ; 
where  was  declared  how  long  I  had  suffered  her 
mass,  in  hope  of  her  leconciliation,  and  how  now 
being  no  hope,  which  I  perceived  by  her  letters, 
except  (unless)  I  saw  some  short  amendment, 
I  could  not  bear  it.  She  answered,  ^^that  her 
soul  was  God's  and  her  faith  she  would  not 
change,  nor  dissemble  her  opinion  with  contrary 
doings. '^  It  was  said,  ^^I  constrained  not  her 
faith,  but  willed  her  not  as  a  king  to  rule,  but  as 
a  subject  to  obey;  and  that  her  example  might 
breed  too  much  inconvenience." 

(19)  The  Emperor's  (Charles,  of  the  German 
Empire)  ambassador  came  with  a  short  mes- 
sage from  his  master  of  war  if  I  would  not  suffer 
his  cousin,  the  princess,  to  use  her  mass.  To 
this  was  no  answer  given  at  this  time. 

(20)  The  bishops  of  Canterbury,  London, 
Rochester,  did  consider  that  to  give  license  to 
sin,  was  sin;  but  to  suffer  and  wink  at  it  for  c. 
time  might  bo  borne  if  all  haste  possible  should 
be  used  to  euro  it. 


Edward  and  Mary  205 

(25)  The  ambassador  of  the  Emperor  came 
to  have  his  answer,  but  had  none,  saying,  ''that 
one  should  go  to  the  Emperor  within  a  month 
or  two  to  declare  the  matter." 

Edward  died  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old. 
(1553)  and  his  sister  Mary  Tudor,  the  oldest 
daughter  of  Henry  VIII.  ascended  the  throne  by 
will  of  Henry  VIII.  and  by  act  of  ParHament. 
The  Council  of  Edward  VI.  undertook  to  place 
Lady  Jane  Grey  on  the  throne,  but  the  nation 
denied  her  right,  and  Mary  sent  her  to  the  block 
for  no  fault  of  her  own. 

QUEEN    MARY. 

Mary  Tudor  was  the  daughter  of  Catherine  of 
Aragon,  the  first  wife  of  Henry  VIII.  She  became 
queen  after  the  death  of  Edward  VI.,  1553-1558, 
by  order  of  her  father,  as  stated  in  his  will,  and 
also  by  an  act  of  Parliament.  She  was  true  to 
her  Spanish  ancestry  and  to  the  Catholic  church. 
With  her  coming  to  the  throne  the  Protestant 
party  was  driven  from  power  and  the  Catholic 
party  restored.  She  showed,  at  first,  a  generous 
disposition,  but  counselors,  among  whom  were 
the  greatest  rulers  and  churchmen  of  the  w^orld, 
persuaded  her  to  try  to  stamp  out  Protestantism 
in  England.  She  inherited  the  strong  will  of  her 
father,  and  soon  entered  upon  a  course  of  perse- 
cution of  Protestants  that   caused   her    name 


206  The  Tudor  Kings 

to  be  execrated  by  those  who  were  opposed  to 
the  return  of  the  English  church  to  its  former 
relations  with  the  Pope  of  Rome. 

The  first  acts  of  her  reign  were  to  repeal  most 
of  the  reformatory  acts  of  Edward^s  Council 
and  Parliament.  Her  determined  purpose  was 
to  restore  papal  authority  and  to  marry  her 
cousin  Phihp,  who  was  ,then  prince  of  Spain  and 
King  of  Naples.  The  majority  of  the  Enghsh 
people  did  not  strongly  oppose  a  return  to  Cathol- 
icism, for  their  life  under  the  Protestant  rule  of 
Edward^s  Council  had  been  a  hard  one.  But 
they  bitterly  opposed  the  queen^s  marriage  with 
Philip,  which  would  make  Spain  the  ruling  in- 
fluence in  the  English  government.  The  plain 
people  rose  in  rebellion  under  the  leadership  of 
Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  who  was  a  gentleman  of  in- 
fluence and  a  Protestant.  This  rebellion  was 
put  down,  and  it  seems  to  have  hardened  the 
heart  of  Mary  against  the  party  of  reform. 

Mary  was  married  to  Philip  in  July,  1554,  and 
papal  authority  over  the  church  was  restored  by 
act  of  the  Parliament  that  Mary  had  called,  and 
the  law  commanding  the  burning  of  heretics  was 
again  enforced.  The  influence  of  Philip  in  this 
matter  may  be  seen  in  the  following  extract  from 
a  private  letter  to  his  sister: 

^^With  the  intervention  of  the  ParUament  we 
have  made  a  law,  I  and  the  most  illustrious 


Edward  and  Mary  207 

queen  (Mary)  for  the  punishment  of  heretics  and 
all  enemies  of  the  church;  we  have  revived  the 
old  ordinance  of  the  realm  which  will  serve  this 
purpose  very  well."  (This  was  the  ordinance 
for  the  burning  of  heretics.) 

Mary^s  loyalty  to  the  mother  church  and  her 
devoted  love  to  her  husband  brought  to  her  no 
happiness.  Her  husband  did  not  return  her 
affection,  but  left  her  after  their  marriage  and 
never  came  back  to  England  during  her  lifetime 
except  for  one  brief  visit.  She  had  to  ^^tread  the 
wine-press  alone."  The  church  for  which  she 
sacrificed  so  much  did  not  help  her  in  her  sore 
need.  Heresy  continued  to  spread  in  her  own 
kingdom  in  spite  of  all  the  '^burnings."  Many 
people,  even  of  her  own  faith,  disapproved  of 
her  bloody  persecutions,  and  she  was  hated  by 
all  of  her  Protestant  subjects. 

During  her  short  reign  of  five  years  no  less  than 
280  persons  were  burned  to  death  in  different 
parts  of  England  for  heresy.  Among  these 
were  Cranmer,  who  had  issued  the  divorce 
against  Mary^s  mother,  Bishop  Latimer,  and 
Bishop  Ridley.  When  these  two  preachers  had 
been  bound  to  the  stake  and  the  fagots  lighted, 
Latimer  cried  out:  ^^Be  of  good  cheer,  Master 
Ridley,  and  play  the  man ;  we  shall  light  such  a 
candle  in  England  to-day  as,  by  God's  grace, 
shall  never  be  put  out." 


208  The  Tudor  Kings 

So  terrible  was  the  persecution  of  the  Prot- 
estants that  the  five  years  of  Mary's  rule  were 
known  for  many  years  afterward  among  the 
Protestants  as  the  reign  of  Bloody  Mary.  But 
we  must  remember  that  we  are  now  speaking  of 
a  period  in  which  it  was  the  common  practice,  if 
not  the  common  belief,  that  heresy  was  treason 
against  God,  and  should  be  punished  by  burn- 
ing at  the  stakeo  Most  of  the  Protestants  con- 
formed in  their  outward  lives  to  the  commands 
of  the  queen,  biding  the  time  when  they  should 
be  able  to  act  according  to  their  own  convictions. 
But  there  were  a  few  who  would  be  true  to  their 
consciences,  whatever  the  queen  might  order. 
These  were  the  martyrs.  According  to  the  best 
authorities,  400  of  these  perished  in  one  way  or 
another,  by  Queen  Mary's  orders.  It  is  prob- 
able that  a  majority  of  the  English  sympathized 
with  Mary  in  her  attachment  to  the  teachings  of 
the  Roman  church,  but  they  could  not  approve  of 
her  treatment  of  those  who  believed  and  taught 
another  faith.  Her  persecutions  were  abhor- 
rent to  the  English  people  in  general,  whether 
they  held  to  the  old  faith  or  the  new.  The 
Catholic  cause  was  weakened  by  her  efforts  to 
strengthen  it. 

You  will  remember  that  when  Henry  VIII. 
was  king  he  and  his  minister,  Cromwell,  selected 
their  victims  from  the  highest  and  most  power- 


Edward  and  Mary  209 

ful  class  in  England.  He  proposed  to  root  out 
treason  by  cutting  off  its  head.  But  though 
Mary  and  her  minister,  Pole,  could  have  laid 
their  hands  on  earl  and  baron,  knight  and  gen- 
tleman, whose  heresy  was  notorious,  and  though, 
in  the  queen's  own  guard,  there  were  many  who 
never  listened  to  mass,  they  dared  not  strike 
where  there  was  danger  that  they  would  be 
struck  in  return.  'They  took  the  weaver  from 
his  loom,  the  carpenter  from  his  work-shop, 
the  husbandman  from  his  plow;  they  laid  hands 
on  maidens  and  boys,  who  had  never  heard  of 
any  other  religion  than  that  which  they  were 
called  upon  to  abjure:  old  men  tottering  into 
the  grave  and  children  whose  lips  could  just 
lisp  the  words  of  their  creed;  and  of  these  they 
made  their  burnt  offerings;  with  these  they 
crowded  their  prisons  and  when  filth  and  famine 
killed  them,  they  flung  them  out  to  rot/^* 

Mary  seemed  to  try  to  destroy  treason  by 
cutting  off  its  feet. 

The  queen  was  sincere ;  by  which  is  meant  she 
was  faithful  to  what  she  believed  to  be  her 
duty.  She  undoubtedly  believed  that  the  hap- 
piness of  her  subjects  here  and  hereafter  de- 
pended upon  their  return,  as  a  nation,  to  the 
old  faith.     She  was  not  wanting  in  love  for  her 


*Green's  Shorter  History  of  England 


210  The  Tudor  Kings 

people  but  she  lacked  wisdom  to  discern  that 
the  new  faith  had  already  taken  deep  root  in 
their  minds. 

She  died  a  disappointed  and  broken-hearted 
woman,  after  she  had  reigned  five  years  and 
failed  in  every  undertaking  that  was  near  to 
her  heart.  Before  we  brand  her  as  ^'Bloody 
Mary  ^'  we  ought  to  consider  whether  the  perse- 
cutions she  ordered  were  of  her  own  chocsinr, 
or  whether  she  followed  the  advice  of  her  coun- 
selors against  her  own  better  feelings.  One 
ruler's  mistaken  notion  of  duty  sometimes 
works  as  great  harm  as  does  the  cruel  selfishness 
of  another.  King  Henry  was  selfish  and  cruel; 
Queen  Mary  was  conscientious  and  dutiful;  and 
yet  Henry  reigned  beloved  by  the  majority  of 
the  English  people,  while  Mary's  death  was 
cause  for  general  thanksgiving.  As  a  woman 
there  was  much  in  her  to  approve,  but  she  was 
wholly  unfit  to  discharge  the  duties  of  arbitrary 
ruler  of  England  at  that  period  in  the  growth 
of  the  nation. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Why  did  Henry  VIII.  leave  the  government  of  England  i:i  the 
hands  of  Protestants?  How  old  was  Edward  VI.  when  he  became 
king?  When  did  he  die?  What  great  book  was  prepared  for  UoO  in 
the  church  during  his  reign?  Wliat  was  the  effect  of  the  government 
of  Edward's  council  upon  the  Knp:".:.'r.i  people?  Who  was  Mary  Tu- 
dor?    What  relation  was  she  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Sp-tl    ? 


Edward  and  Mary  211 

What  was  her  reUgion?  Wliat  was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  her  gov- 
ernment? How  was  she  received  at  first  by  the  people?  Whom  did 
she  subsequent!}-  marry?  What  seemed  to  harden  her  heart  against 
the  Protestant-;?  Can  you  explain  how  it  was  possible  for  l\Iary  to 
secure  an  act  of  Parliament  that  the  Church  of  England  should  re- 
turn to  the  Roman  Catholic  fold?  WTiy  was  the  queen  called 
Bloody  Mary?  How  did  most  of  the  Protestants  escape  persecu- 
tion? How  did  the  persecutions  of  Mary  affect  the  English  people? 
What  can  you  say  on  behalf  of  Mary  as  a  woman? 


XXI. 

ELIZABETH. 

1558  ~  1603. 

On  the  death  of  Mary  her  half-sister  Ehzabeth 
was  proclaimed  queen  without  opposition.  Both 
Catholics  and  Protestants  hoped  for  her  favor. 
She  had  conducted  herself  as  a  good  citizen 
during  Mary's  reign,  and  her  Cathohc  subjects 
hoped  that  she  would  find  some  middle  ground 
on  which  she  could  rule  without  turning  over 
the  government  to  foreign  influence  and  sanc- 
tioning bloody  persecutions  on  the  one  hand,  or 
giving  the  control  of  the  government  to  bigoted 
Protestants  on  the  other. 

Many  of  the  Protestants  on  the  contrary  had 
a  firm  conviction  that  she  would  set  up  a  strong 
Protestant  government  which  would  persecute 
the  Catholics  as  Mary  had  persecuted  them. 
She  evidently  determined  from  the  first  to  be 
the  queen  of  the  whole  English  people,  Cath- 
olic as  well  as  Protestant. 

Before  we  begin  the  study  of  her  reign  it  will 
be  well  to  learn  something  of  the  character  of 

212 


Elizabeth  213 

Elizabeth  and  her  personal  fitness  to  be  the 
arbitrary  ruler  of  England,  such  as  her  grand- 
father, her  father,  and  her  sister,  Mary,  had 
been. 

Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne  in  her  twenty- 
fifth  year.  Her  education,  under  the  great 
teacher,  Roger  Ascham,  had  been  thorough  and 
complete.  She  could  read  and  write  the  Latin 
and  Greek  languages  with  ease,  and  could  con- 
verse in  the  French,  Italian,  and  German.  She 
excelled  in  music,  as  well  as  in  a  knowledge  of 
philosophy  and  history. 

She  had  her  father^s  bluff  and  hearty  manner 
of  address,  his  love  of  popularity  among  the 
common  people,  his  fearlessness,  his  strong  will 
and  self-confidence,  his  pride,  his  indulgence  in 
uncontrolled  outbursts  of  anger,  and  much  of 
his  intellectual  power,  and  ability  to  estimate 
the  usefulness  and  trustworthiness  of  men.  In 
her  fits  of  anger  she  would  ''swear  at  her  minis- 
ters like  a  fish-wife,  '^  and  box  the  ears  of  her 
courtiers  for  what  she  called  their  insolence. 

She  was  like  her  mother  in  her  self-indulgence, 
her  love  of  gaiety  and  wit,  her  inordinate  love  of 
praise,  her  enjoyment  of  pomp  and  display,  and 
her  coquetry  and  lack  of  womanly  delicacy. 
She  had  a  passionate  love  of  dress.  It  is  s^id 
that  her  wardrobes  were  filled  with  more  than 
two  thousand  rich  and  costly  gowns. 


214  The  Tudor  Kings 

Historians    say   that   she   was   incapable   of 
either  sincere  love  or  hate  for  any  individual, 


^^^K*-                  ^■^p^f^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^Hl^ 

Hlii^M^SJjjj^^^^^^H 

^¥^  4  ^^m^^^^M 

^^^^^^^^^^^V/    \  ^ 

I^^^^^^^^^^^H^^H£rvv-.."^^^^^M| 

lyfl^^^^^^^l 

QUEEN    ELIZABETH.  ZttccTiero 

but  that  she  loved  her  country  and  her  people 
with  an  almost  passionate  devotion.     She  sought 


Elizabeth  215 

to  serve  them  by  restoring  order,  both  in  re- 
Ugious  worship  and  in  society;  by  reheving 
them  from  burdensome  taxes;  by  giving  Eng- 
land peace;  and  by  defending  her  crown  from 
all  foes  whether  at  home  or  abroad.  For  these 
things  she  labored  persistently  for  forty-four 
years  and  at  her  death  England  had  not  only 
been  redeemed  from  her  low  estate  but  had 
again  risen  to  a  position  of  first  rank  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  Her  people  were  the 
freest  and  happiest  in  the  world,  and  were  fast 
becoming  the  wealthiest. 

As  the  first  lady  in  the  society  of  the  court, 
Elizabeth  was  much  like  Anne  Boleyn,  (Bul-in) 
her  mother.  As  sovereign  she  was  Hke  Henry 
Vin.  in  many  things  and  far  surpassed  him  in 
her  desire  for  peace  and  her  devotion  to  the 
welfare  of  her  people.  In  society  no  flattery 
was  so  coarse  and  fulsome  as  to  displease  her. 
She  would  enjoy  for  hours  the  discourse  of  those 
who  recounted  her  praises.  In  the  council- 
chamber  she  would  broojc  nothing  of  this,  but 
considered  all  questions  in  the  spirit  of  a  shrewd 
and  diplomatic  man  of  business.  She  marked 
out  no  well  defined  path  to  the  goal  she  sought. 
This  caused  her  to  appear  uncertain  and  often 
vacillating,  until  she  saw  clearly  the  next  step 
to  take :  she  decided  upon  only  one  step  at  a  time. 
She  worked  her  way  from  day  to  day  and  year 


216  The  Tudor  Kings 

to  year  with  unerring  tact,  ^^  never  crossing  a 
stream  until  she  came  to  it/' 

EHzabeth  never  had  any  strong  reUgious  con- 
victions; they  were  all  political.  She  had  a 
Tudor's  love  for  personal  power  and  arbitrary 
rule,  but  she  knew  how  to  yield  graciously  when 
the  people  demanded  it,  and  every  such  con- 
cession increased  the  nation's  love  for  her.  A 
new  spirit  of  freedom  was  working  among  men 
and  Elizabeth  was  great  enough  to  feel  and  di- 
rect it  without  attempting  to  crush  it.  She  had 
many  personal  faults,  judged  by  our  present 
standards,  but  her  greatness  and  her  good  for- 
tune combined  to  give  her  a  place  in  history 
that  no  other  English  ruler  has  since  achieved. 

ELIZABETH    AS   SOVEREIGN. 

When  Elizabeth  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Pope 
to  announce  her  accession  to  the  throne,  the 
Roman  Pontiff  refused  to  recognize  her  as 
queen  unless  she  acknowledged  him  as  her 
feudal  lord.  You  will  remember  that  King  John 
had  conveyed  his  kingdom  to  the  Pope  and  had 
received  it  back  as  a  feudatory  of  the  Roman 
See.  The  Pope  now  claimed  his  superior  lord- 
ship over  England.  He  also  declared  that  Eliza- 
beth had  no  right  to  the  throne  by  the  laws  of  the 
church,  because  her  mother  was  not  the  lawful 
wife  of  Henry  VIII.     The  Pope  had  never  con- 


Elizabeth  217 

sented  to  the  divorce  of  Catherine,  and  to  Henry^s 
marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn. 

This  answer  from  the  Pope  made  it  plain  to 
EUzabeth  that  her  only  safety  la}^  in  a  union  with 
her  Protestant  people,  and  she  at  once  made  per- 
manent the  choice  of  a  Council  from  the  able  and 
conservative  members  of  that  party.  William 
Cecil,  who  had  been  an  officer  in  the  reigns  of  both 
Edward  and  Mary,  was  chosen  her  prime  min- 
ister, and  he  served  her  in  that  office  for  forty 
years.  Cecil  was  a  Protestant  at  heart,  but  he 
considered  it  his  duty  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
realm,  whether  his  sovereign  was  Protestant  or 
Catholic. 

When  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne  England 
was  in  a  wretched  condition.  The  nation  had 
been  dragged  into  foreign  wars  by  Philip  of  Spain 
and  humiliated  by  defeat,  and  now  Philip  was 
to  become  an  active  enemy.  The  two  parties  in 
England  were  on  the  verge  of  a  civil  war.  The 
English  people  were  discontented  with  their 
hard  lot  and  ready  for  rebellion.  The  govern- 
ment was  in  debt  and  had  no  money  in  the  treas- 
ury. There  was  neither  army  nor  navy  to  de- 
fend the  land  from  threatened  invasion  by  num- 
erous enemies.  Whether  the  nation  should 
rise  again  to  power,  or  should  cease  to  exist  as 
an  independent  people,  seemed  to  depend  upon 
the  wisdom  of  a  young  woman  who  came  to  the 


218  The  Tudor  Kings 

throne  as  an  arbitrary  didtator  of  the  fortunes  of 
England.  No  Enghsh  monarch  ever  faced  so 
many  difficulties  and  dangers,  and  none  ever 
achieved  so  brilliant  a  success. 

She  called  a  Parliament  of  moderate  Protest- 
ants, and  they  gave  their  attention  to  the  quell- 
ing of  the  religious  storm  that  was  raging.  The 
Church  of  England  was  firmly  established  in  this 
reign,  never  again  to  be  overthrown.  The  queen 
became  head  of  the  church  in  power,  but  not  in 
name.  She  chose  for  her  minister  of  the  church 
the  great  Bishop  Parker  who  was  both  coura- 
geous and  wise.  It  was  his  duty  to  restore  order 
in  the  church,  and  he  did  it.  The  queen  did  not 
seek  to  interfere  with  the  private  thoughts  and 
convictions  of  the  people,  but  they  must  obey 
the  laws  in  their  conduct.  The  laws  required 
all  to  attend  church,  and  forbade  the  priests  to 
preach  any  doctrine  or  conduct  any  service  other 
than  the  law  sanctioned.  Wrangling  was  for- 
bidden, and,  in  time,  so  much  social  order  was 
restored  as  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  could  en- 
force. 

The  queen,  as  has  been  said,  sought  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  the  people  by  livmg  at 
peace  with  other  nations.  Her  repeated  order 
to  her  Council  was  'There  must  be  no  war." 
In  this  she  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Wolsey 
rather  than  in  those  of  her  father.     By -a  pro- 


Elizabeth  219 

longed  peace,  and  through  the  increase  of  com- 
merce with  other  nations  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  industries  at  home,  she  hoped  to  make 
the  Hves  of  the  poor  easier  and  happier.  She  im» 
posed  no  taxes  upon  the  people,  but  paid  the  ex- 
penses of  the  government  and  the  national  debts 
out  of  the  revenues  of  the  crown  which  the  laws 
had  established.  She  was  called  penurious  and 
even  miserly,  but  in  time  the  wisdom  of  her 
course  became  apparent.  The  people's  condi- 
tion improved,  and  they  gave  their  queen  the 
credit  for  it.  Year  by  year  loyalty  to  the  queen 
grew,  until  it  became  a  passion  among  her  sub- 
jects, both  Catholic  and  Protestant.  Elizabeth 
could  not  have  done  this  without  the  aid  of  her 
ministers,  but  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
her  ministers  to  have  done  it  without  the  queen. 
She  undertook  to  maintain  peace  abroad  by 
what  is  called  diplomacy.  At  that  time  diplo- 
macy among  nations  consisted  chiefly  of  a  net- 
work of  artful  deceptions.  Ehzabeth  was  very 
skilful  in  making  unfriendly  nations  believe 
what  she  said,  and  in  awakening  so  strong  a  hope 
that  she  would  do  as  they  wished  that  they  were 
willing  to  wait.  Every  year  of  peace  added  to 
the  strength  of  England  to  defend  herself  against 
her  enemies  when  war  finally  came.  More  than 
one  of  the  rulers  of  other  nations  wished  to  marry 
Elizabeth,  and  for  some  years  she  kept   their 


220  The  Tudor  Kings 

representatives  dancing  attendance  at  her  court. 
Her  main  object  was  to  gain  time  for  the  dis- 
cordant elements  in  the  nation  to  come  into  a 
closer  union  through  a  growth  in  patriotism  and 
loyalty  and  love  for  order  and  peace. 

Elizabeth  not  only  supported  the  new  religion, 
to  the  degree  that  seemed  safe  to  the  internal 
peace  of  her  kingdom,  but  she  was  an  earnest  ad- 
vocate and  patron  of  the  new  learning.  By  the 
encouragement  given  to  it  in  her  reign  England 
attained  a  high  place  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth  in  literature,  in  science,  and  in  philosophy. 

This  period  was  called  the  Elizabethan  age  of 
literature,  and  it  continued  to  the  reign  of  Charles 
I.  The  bright  particular  star  of  this  age  was 
Shakespeare,  but  there  were  many  others  who, 
at  that  time,  were  thought  by  many  to  far  excel 
him.  The  master  mind  in  philosophy  and  sci- 
ence was  Francis  Bacon.  These  and  such  as 
these  were  the  fruit  of  an  age  which  could  not 
have  been  if  Mary  had  been  queen  of  England 
for  fifty  years.  This  period  of  greatness  would 
have  come  some  time,  no  doubt,  but  it  would 
have  been  long  delayed. 

Twelve  years  passed  before  the  rulers  of 
Europe  discovered  that  Elizabeth  had  been  play- 
ing with  them,  and  that  she  had  determined  to 
live  and  die  the  sole  ruler  of  her  country. 
For  various  reasons   her  excommunication  by 


Elizabeth  221 

the  Roman  pontiff  had  been  delayed »  It  is 
probable  th^.t  he  hoped  that  the  influences  at 
work  would  induce  Elizabeth  to  return  to  the 
mother  church.  The  decree  of  excommunica- 
tion was  issued  in  1570.  This  decree  might  be 
said  to  set  a  price  on  the  head  of  the  queen  „  By 
it  the  subjects  were  told  that  to  be  loyal  to  the 
queen  was  to  be  disloyal  to  the  church. 

While  this  decree  only  strengthened  the  loy- 
alty of  most  of  her  subjects,  it  increased  Eliza- 
beth's danger.  But  she  lived  on  and  on  from 
year  to  year,  and  many  of  the  Catholics  became 
her  most  loyal  subjects. 

It  was  eighteen  years  after  her  excommuni- 
cation before  Philip  of  Spain,  having  despaired 
of  securing  her  hand,  sent  the  fleet  called  the  In- 
vincible  Armada  and  a  large  army  to  invade 
England,  and  to  take  possession  of  the  English 
throne.  England  had  been  granted  to  him  by 
the  Pope  on  condition  that  he  would  go  and  take 
it.  The  English  people  rushed  to  arms  as  if  by 
common  impulse,  and  great  armies  assembled 
to  resist  the  landing  of  the  Spanish  forces. 

You  may  learn  something  of  the  courage  and 
spirit  of  Elizabeth  from  her  address  to  her  army 
which  had  assembled  to  defend  her  crown.  As 
reported  by  one  writer,  she  spoke  as  follows : 

^'My  loving  people:  we  have  been  persuaded 
[urged]  by  some  that  are  careful  of  our  safety, 


222  The  Tudor  Kings 

to  take  heed  how  we  commit  ourseflf  to  armed 
multitudes^  for  fear  of  treachery;  but  I  assure 
you  that  I  do  not  wish  to  Uve  to  distrust  my 
faithful  and  loving  people.  Let  tyrants  fear. 
I  have  always  so  behaved  myself  that,  under 
God,  I  have  placed  my  chiefest  strength  and 
safeguard  in  the  loyal  hearts  and  goodwill  of  my 
subjects;  and  therefore  I  come  unto  you  at  this 
time,  not  for  recreation  and  sport,  but  being  re- 
solved in  the  midst  and  heat  of  battle  to  live  or 
die  amidst  you  all;  to  lay  down  for  my  people 
my  honor  and  my  life,  even  in  the  dust.  I  know 
I  have  but  the  body  of  a  weak  and  f-eeble  woman, 
but  I  have  the  heart  of  a  king,  and  of  a  king  of 
England,  and  think  foul  scorn  that  Parma  [the 
Spanish  general]  or  Spain  [Philip]  or  any  prince 
of  Europe  shall  dare*  to  invade  the  borders  of  my 
realm  to  which,  rather  than  any  dishonor  should 
grow  by  me,  I  will  myself  take  up  arms;  I  my- 
self, will  be  your  general,  and  the  judge  of  every 
one  of  your  virtues  in  the  field/^ 

THE   DEFEAT    OF   THE    ARMADA. 

Philip^s  generals  came  to  take  possession  of  Eng- 
land with  131  large  warships,  an  army  of  20,000 
trained  soldiers  and  8,000  sailors,  and  nearly 
20,000  more  soldiers  to  follow  immediately. 
There  is  a  story  that  when  this  Invincible  Ar- 
mada, as  Philip  called  it,  entered  the  English 


Elizabeth  223 

channel,  the  great  Enghsh  sailors,  Lord  How- 
ard, Captain  Drake,  Captain  Hawkins,  Captain 
Frobisher,  and  others,  were  playing  a  game  of 
bowls  on  Plymouth  green.  When  the  messen- 
ger brought  the  news  that  the  fleet  w^as  in  sight, 
Lord  Howard  would  have  set  sail  at  once  to  at- 
tack it,  but  Captain  Hawkins  declared  that 
there  was  time  enough  to  finish  the  game  and 
whip  Philip  afterward.  Francis  Drake  agreed 
with  him,  and  the  game  was  finished.  They 
then  sailed  out  toward  the  Spanish  fleet. 

The  commander  of  the  fleet  had  orders  to  stop 
for  nothing  until  he  reached  Dunkirk,  a  port  on 
the  continent  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Thames 
river,  and  then  to  carry  the  Spanish  army,  there 
assembled,  across  to  England  and  await  the  sur- 
render of  the  English  crown.  So  the  Armada 
did  not  stop  to  send  to  the  bottom  of  the  chan- 
nel the  little  fleet  of  little  ships  (eighty  in  num- 
ber) at  Plymouth,  and  this  little  fleet  followed 
after  them  to  be  ready  to  deal  with  any  strag- 
glers from  the  Spanish  fine.  When  one  of  the 
Spanish  ships  ran  into  another  and  dropped  be- 
hind, the  English  captains  seized  upon  it  and 
found  a  large  number  of  elegant  swords  which 
were  to  be  presented  to  Philip^s  officers  of  state 
as  soon  as  the  Spanish  government  was  set  up  in 
England. 

The  Spanish  army  at  Dunkirk,  which  was  then 


224  The  -Tudor  Kings 

a  Spanish  port,  was  taken  on  board  the  ships, 
but,  by  this  time,  a  large  number  of  EngUsh  boats 
and  merchant  vessels  had  joined  the  English 
fleet,  and  they  appeared  to  be  so  plucky,  and  to 
move  so  rapidly,  and  to  fire  such  large  balls  from 
their  big  cannon,  that  the  Invincible  Armada 
did  not  care  to  come  out  from  the  bay  of  Dun- 
kirk into  the  open  sea  where  Hawkins,  and 
Drake,  and  the  rest  could  get  at  them. 

The  English  had  to  ^^smoke  them  out''  of 
Dunkirk  by  setting  on  fire  some  scows  filled 
with  tar  barrels  and  other  combustibles,  and 
then  leaving  them  for  the  wind  to  drive  in 
amongst  the  great  galleys  and  fine  ^^galleasses'' 
that  were  the  pride  of  wealthy  and  powerful 
Spain.  In  their  haste  to  get  out  of  the  way  of 
the  burning  scows  some  of  these  fine  boats  cut 
their  cables  and  began  to  drift  about,  knocking 
against  each  other  in  hopeless  confusion.  Their 
only  hope  was  to  get  out  of  the  harbor  into  the 
open  sea,  but  when  once  out  the  little  ships  of 
the  English  ran  up  close  to  these  floating  palaces 
and  fired  their  cannon  balls  through  their  sides, 
sinking  some  of  them,  killing  hundreds  of  soldiers 
packed  closely  within,  exploding  their  powder- 
magazines,  shooting  holes  into  their  fresh-water 
reservoirs,  and  then  they  sailed  away  before  the 
slow-moving  Spaniards  could  get  at  them.  The 
enemy  declared  that  the  cannonading  of  the  Eng- 


Elizabeth  225 

lish  was  the  loudest,  the  most  rapid,  tho  most  de- 
structive of  anything  ever  known  in  war.  (Prob- 
ably they  thought  the  same  of  Dewey^s  fleet  in 
Manila  bay.)  The  English  ships  could  sail  twice 
as  fast  as  the  great  ships  of  the  Spaniards.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  there  were  no  steam- 
ships at  that  time.  The  largest  of  these  Span- 
ish vessels  were  propelled  by  oars  that  were 
worked  by  galley  slaves. 

Well,  this  fight  was  kept  up  v/ith  very  little 
damage  to  the  English,  ufitil  the  Spaniards  de- 
termined to  set  sail  and  leave  the  pesky  wasps 
behind  and  come  back  at  them  from  another 
quarter.  The  English  had  not  destroyed  the 
^Tnvincible  Armada, '^  but  even  its  invincibility 
could  not  endure  many  hours  of  such  terrific  fire. 
When  they  got  out  to  sea  the  Spaniards  found 
that  many  of  their  ships  had  no  anchors,  having 
left  all  they  had  in  Dunkirk  bay.  So  the  only 
thing  for  them  to  do  was  to  keep  sailing.  Then 
a  storm  arose,  which  drove  them  toward  the 
north.  The  great  vessels  were  not  built  to  with- 
stand the  storms  of  the  stormy  North  Sea.  They 
either  went  on  the  rocks  or  down  to  the  bottom. 
A  few  of  them  sailed  northward  around  the  Brit- 
ish Isles  and  53  of  the  134  that  had  set  out,  finally 
reached  Spain.  Of  the  30,000  soldiers  and  sail- 
ors who  started  out  to  take  Queen  Elizabeth 


226  The  Tudor  Kings 

prisoner,  only  a  few  hundred  ever  returned  to 
their  native  land. 

Do  you  ask  why  the  English  did  not  pursue 
them  and  send  them  all  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea 
without  trusting  to  the  storms  to  finish  the  de- 
struction they  had  begun?  The  reason  seems 
to  be  that  Elizabeth^s  government  had  no  of- 
ficer at  the  head  of  the  department  of  the  navy 
who  saw  the  necessity  of  preparing  an  ample 
store  of  everything  that  would  be  needed  when 
the  ^'unconquerable  fleet^^  should  arrive.  Not 
enough  powder  and  balls  had  been  provided 
to  shoot  holes  enough  into  the  Spanish  fleet  to 
sink  it.  So  the  English  captains  were  compelled 
to  return  to  port,  because  some  officer  had  blun- 
dered or  neglected  his  duty.  Some  say  that 
Queen  Elizabeth  inherited  the  stinginess  of  her 
grandfather,  Henry  VII.,  and  would  not  permit 
her  minister  to  make  the  preparation  needed  to 
meet  the  enemy.  She  seems  to  have  relied 
upon  the  people  to  provide  what  was  needed  at 
their  own  private  expense,  for  the  government 
had  less  than  forty  ships  of  its  own. 

Before  the  Armada  started  north,  about  140 
craft  of  all  sorts  joined  the  English  fleet,  only 
thirty-three  of  these  belonged  to  the  government. 
The  rest  were  supplied  by  the  cities,  especially 
London,  which  alone  armed  and  manned  as  many 
vessels  as  did  the  queen ;  the  rest  were  equipped 


Elizabeth  227 

by  private  citizens.  Of  all  this  number  only 
one  was  destroyed  by  the  Spaniards,  and  that 
was  a  small  vessel  belonging  to  Mr.  Cock,  who 
was  himself  killed  in  the  fight.  Sixteen  of  these 
140  vessels  did  nearly  all  the  fighting. 

At  a  later  period,  when  Philip  was  ready  with 
another  fleet  to  invade  England,  the  merchants, 
without  the  aid  of  the  government,  sent  a  fleet 
down  to  Spain  which  entered  the  Spanish  har- 
bor where  Philip's  ships  lay  at  anchor,  burned  or 
sunk  nearly  all  of  them,  and  then  sailed  home 
again  in  almost  as  good  a  condition  as  w^hen  they 
first  set  out.  Sir  Francis  Drake  called  this  ^^the 
singeing  of  King  Philip's  beard." 

So  it  seems  that  our  English  grandfathers  long 
ago  taught  their  American  grandsons  how  to 
enter  a  Spanish  harbor,  destroy  a  Spanish  fleet, 
and  take  possession  of  a  Spanish  city  without 
much  peril  to  life  or  limb. 

The  defeat  of  the  Armada  seems  to  have 
quickened  the  beat  of  every  heart  in  England. 
Business  at  home,  commerce  abroad,  explora- 
tions and  settlements  in  the  New  World,  capture 
of  the  treasure-ships  of  Spain — new  life  mani- 
fested itself  everywhere. 

Within  forty  years  after  that  event  the  great 
age  of  English  literature  reached  its  culmination. 
Spenser,  Shakespeare,  Bacon,  Raleigh,  Hooker, 
Hobbs,  Ben  Jonson,  are  but  a  few  of  the  great 


228  The  Tudor  Kings 

lights  whose  works  still  illumine  the  literature 
of  the  English  race.  This  great  victory  secured 
the  independence  of  England,  and  established 
her  supremacy  on  the  sea.  It  stimulated  the 
growth  of  Protestantism,  and  made  England  a 
Protestant  nation.  It  established  for  all  time 
the  right  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  in 
Parliament  to  determine  the  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  all  things  that  concerned  religion 
and  property.  The  Elizabethan  age  was  great 
because  the  people  were  great,  and  their  queen 
and  government  were  content  to  move  slowly 
from  one  step  of  advance  to  another  as  the  peo- 
ple saw  their  way. 

LATER    YEARS. 

The  personal  danger  to  the  queen  increased 
as  the  power  of  England  increased.  Her  ene- 
mies, after  learning  that  Protestant  England 
was  able  to  cope  with  Catholic  Europe  both  in 
diplomacy  and  in  war,  resorted  to  conspiracy  to 
rid  the  world  of  this  powerful  leader  of  the  Prot- 
estant movement.  Until  the  defeat  of  the  Ar- 
mada it  was  believed  that  England  would  fall  an 
easy  prey  to  the  armies  of  Spain  and  Franco 
whenever  they  chose  to  act  in  concert. 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was  declared  by  them 
to  be  the  rightful  queen  of  England.  She  de- 
manded that  Parliament  should  by  law  recognize 


Elizabeth  229 

her  as  Elizabeth's  successor.  This  was  refused 
although  she  was  the  next  by  birth  in  the  royal 
line.  The  English  would  not  have  a  Catholic 
sovereign.  Mary  was  the  daughter  of  Margaret, 
the  sister  of  Henry  VIII. ,  and,  therefore,  cousin 
to  Elizabeth.  Mary  was  driven  out  of  Scotland 
by  her  Protestant  subjects,  and  took  refuge  in 
England.  What  to  do  with  her  was  a  hard  ques- 
tion for  Elizabeth.  So  long  as  she  was  there  she 
was  the  center  of  conspiracies  against  the  life  of 
the  queen.  Elizabeth's  Council  demanded  that 
she  should  be  put  to  death,  since  she  would  be  a 
constant  menace  to  the  peace  of  England  so  long 
as  she  lived,  whether  in  England  or  elsewhere. 
Elizabeth  refused  for  a  long  time  to  resort  to 
such  extreme  measures.  She  finally  yielded  to 
the  entreaties  of  Cecil  and  signed  the  wart-ant  for 
her  execution,  but  commanded  the  secretary  not 
to  deliver  it  to  her  ministers  until  she  should  so 
order.  It  seems  that  it  immediately  found  its 
way  to  Cecil,  then  Lord  Burleigh,  and  Mary  was 
executed  at  once,  lest  Elizabeth  should  change 
her  mind  if  there  were  any  delay.  This  act  was 
received  with  horror  throughout  all  Europe,  and 
then  began  the  secret  plots  against  the  life  of 
Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth  abhorred  the  shedding  of  blood, 
but  there  seemed  to  her  and  her  Council  no  other 
way  to  stamp  out  the  secret  conspiracies  that 


230  The  Tudor  Kings 

were  formed  at  many  points  in  England.  To 
seek  the  life  of  the  sovereign  was  treason,  and 
persons  who  were  convicted  of  it  by  the  courts 
were  sent  to  the  block.  As  many  such  traitors 
were  put  to  death  by  Elizabeth  as  were  burned 
at  the  stake  in  the  reign  of  Mary. 

We  see  from  these  events,  and  from  many 
oiihers  like  them  before  and  since  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  how  groat  was  the  cost  to  our  English 
grandfathers  of  our  present  liberty  of  worship, 
and  of  our  freedom  to  govern  ourselves. 

Nor  should  we  harbor  feelings  of  bitterness 
against  the  rulers  of  those  days,  nor  towards 
the  Catholics  and  Protestants  for  their  hatred  of 
one  another.  It  was  a  time  of  sharp  conflict  of 
opinion  about  what  was  right.  The  Catholics 
believed  that  the  Protestants  were  traitors 
against  God's  government;  the  Protestants  be- 
lieved that  there  was  a  purer  religion  than  that 
represented  by  the  lives  and  practices  of  many, 
and  especially  the  upper  classes,  who  professed 
the  Catholic  faith.  Religion  and  politics  were 
intermingled,  and  many  things  were  done  by 
ambitious  politicians  in  both  the  church  and  the 
state  which  were  contrary  to  the  teachings  of 
both  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  faith. 

Elizabeth  was  half  Catholic  in  her  convictions, 
but  she  had  no  religious  feelings.  To  her  the 
church  was  merely  a  political  power  which  must 
be  reckoned  with  by  the  ruler  of  the  nation. 


Elizabeth  231 

In  estimating  the  personal  character  of  Ehza- 
beth  we  must  not  forget  that  she  was,  in  her 
mind,  two  different  persons  in  one.  As  the 
daughter  of  her  mother  she  was  frivolous,  and 
vain,  and  false  as  Anne  Boleyn;  as  her  father's 
daughter  she  had  inherited  much  of  the  strength 
of  Henry  VIII.  without  some  of  his  glaring  de- 
fects. She  was  great  in  spite  of  her  defects,  as 
was  her  father. 

The  reign  of  Elizabeth  made  permanent  the 
Church  of  England  and  its  relation  to  the  gov- 
ernment. It  also  was  the  source  of  two  relig- 
ious movements : 

1 .  The  one  was  away  from  all  legalized  forms 
of  religion  toward  freedom  to  worship  God  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  conscience — Puritan- 
ism. 

2.  The  other  was  a  movement  from  the 
Church  of  England  back  toward  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church — Catholicism. 

Elizabeth  did  not  approve  of  either,  and  the 
conflict  between  the  former  class,  at  first  called 
Puritans,  and  the  government,  led  in  after  years 
to  a  great  revolution  in  England,  which  will  be 
considered  in  another  chapter. 

Elizabeth  died  in  1603,  having  ruled  as  queen 
of  England  for  forty-five  years.  Shakes- 
peare, the  contemporary  of  the  queen,  in  his 
drama  of  King  Henry  VIII. ,  makes  Archbishop 


2^2  The  Tudor  Kings 

Cranmer,  at  the  christening  of  the  infant  Eliza- 
beth, give  utterance  to  the  following  prophecy : 

"Let  me  speak  sir, 
For  heaven  now  bids  me ;  and  the  words  I  utter 
Let  none  think  flattery,  for  they'll  find  them  truth. 
This  royal  infant  (Heaven  still  move  about  her!) 
Though  in  her  cradle,  yet  now  promises 
Upon  this  land  a  thousand,  thousand  blessings. 
Which  time  shall  bring  to  ripeness :     She  shall  be 
A  pattern  to  all  princes  living  mth  her, 
And  all  that  shall  succeed :     Sheba  was  never 
More  covetous  of  wisdom  and  fair  virtue, 
Than  this  pure  soul  shall  be ;  all  princely  graces 
That  mould  up  such  a  mighty  piece  as  this  is 
With  all  the  virtues  that  attend  the  good 
Shall  still  be  doubled  on  her ;     truth  shall  nurse  her, 
Holy  and  heavenly  thoughts  shall  counsel  her; 
She  shall  be  loved  and  feared ;  her  own  shall  bless  her; 
Her  foes  shake  like  a  field  of  beaten  corn. 
And  hang  their  heads  with  sorrow :     Good  grows  with  her; 
In  her  days  every  man  shall  eat  in  safety 
Under  his  own  vine  what  he  plants,  and  sing 
The  merry  songs  of  peace  to  all  his  neighbors. 
God  shall  be  truly  known,  and  those  about  her 
From  her  shall  read  the  perfect  ways  of  honor 
And  by  those  claim  their  greatness,  not  by  blood. 
She  shall  be  to  the  happiness  of  England 
An  aged  princess ;  many  days  shall  see  her 
And  yet  no  day  without  a  deed  to  crown  it.*' 

This  has  the  form  of  that  praise  said  to  be  very 
pleasing  to  Elizabeth,  but  history  declares  thrt 
Shakespeare  but  faintly  voiced  the  sentiments 
of  the  English  people  when  she  ceased  to  rule. 

SOME  GREAT  BOOKS  OF  THE  TUDOR  PERIOD. 

The  reign  of  the  Tudors  not  only  caused  a 
great   impetus   toward   religious   and   political 


Elizabeth  233 

freedom ;  it  gave  also  some  of  the  greatest  books 
in  the  EngUsh  tongue.  The  six  greatest  of  these 
were : 

1.  Utopia.  This  was  written  by  Sir  Thomas 
More,  whom  Plenry  VIII.  put  to  death  because 
he  would  not  publicly  declare  that  the  king  could 
take  the  place  of  the  Pope  in  granting  a  divorce. 
More  was  a  true  Englishman,  but  he  believed 
that  the  Pope  was  the  supreme  authority  in  mat- 
ters of  marriage.  The  meaning  of  '^  Utopia  ^^  is 
nowhere.  Why  did  he  call  his  book  ^^No-where"? 
His  wish  was  to  describe  an  island  such  as  did 
not  then  exist,  but  such  as  he  hoped  Britain 
might  some  day  become.  ^^Nowhere^^  was  the 
name  he  gave  to  this  island,  and  his  book,  Uto- 
pia, was  the  description  of  it.  It  was  the  first 
of  these  six  great  books  written  in  1526. 

2.  The  second,  in  order,  was  The  Fairie 
Queen.  (1580)  This  is  a  long  poem  of  twenty- 
four  parts,  or  cantos.  It  is  the  story  of  a  knight 
called  the  Red-Cross  Knight,  and  of  a  beautiful 
maiden  called  Una.  Like  Utopia,  this  poem 
had  a  hidden  meaning.  It  represents  the  strug- 
gle of  good  against  evil  in  the  world,  and  sug- 
gests with  becoming  delicacy  that  Queen  Eliza- 
beth is  the  moving  force  for  good  in  England. 
It  is  a  famous  book  by  Edmund  Spenser,  the  sec- 
ond great  poet  of  the  English  nation;  Chaucer, 
the  father  of  English  poetry,  being  the  first. 


234  The  Tudor  Kings 

3.  The  third  of  these  books,  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  compiled  under  the  direction 
of  Cramner,  was  first  printed  in  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward VI.  (1549)  The  book  now  used  in  the 
Church  of  England  is  a  modification  of  this,  but 
the  changes  that  have  been  made  do  not  detract 
from  the  greatness  of  the  original. 

4.  The  fourth  is  Shakespeare's  Dramas. 
He  wrote  his  plays  in  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and 
King  James  I.  Many  other  famous  authors 
lived  at  that  time,  among  whom  were  Ben  Jon- 
son,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
but  none  of  them  now  takes  rank  with  Shakes- 
peare. 

5.  Francis  Bacon's  Essays  is  another  one  of 
the  great  books  that  properly  belongs  to  the  Tu- 
dor period,  though  Bacon  did  most  of  his  liter- 
ary work  during  the  reign  of  James  I.,  the  first 
Stuart  king.  He  was  the  author  of  other  works 
on  philosophy,  which  are  sometimes  called  the 
beginning  of  the  scientific  method  of  thinking. 
He  is  sometimes  called  the  father  of  modern 
science. 

6.  The  greatest  book  of  all  is  the  English 
Bible,  which  was  translated  by  scholars  in  the 
reign  of  James  I.,  but  they  belonged  to  the  Eliz- 
abethan period  of  English  literature,  and  the 
translation  should  be  credited  to  the  Tudor 
period. 


Elizabeth  235 

The  manners  of  this  period  were  crude  and 
boorish,  often,  when  measured  by  the  present 
standards,  but  no  time  has  excelled  that  of  the 
Tudors  in  the  greatness  of  its  men. 

OLD    STYLE    AND    NEW    STYLE. 

One  thing  happened  in  the  Tudor  period  that 
deserves  mention,  though  it  has  little  to  do  with 
the  freedom,  the  art,  or  the  literature  of  the  peo- 
ple, nor  with  their  industries.  It  is  more  nearly 
related  to  science.  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth (1582)  the  pope  ordered  that  on  a  certain 
day  everybody  in  all  Christendom  should  drop 
ten  days  out  of  the  calendar.  This  meant  that 
Christmas  and  every  feast  day,  or  fast  day,  or 
holiday,  should  come  ten  days  earlier  than  it  had 
come  before.  This  new  style  of  dating  events 
applied  to  business  transactions,  the  dating  of 
letters,  and  to  everything  that  had  a  date  at- 
tached to  it.  The  Roman  Catholic  countries 
all  obeyed  this  order,  but  England  gave  no  more 
heed  to  it  than  she  had  given  to  any  other  order 
of  the  Pope.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
pope  had  excommunicated  Elizabeth  from  the 
church  of  which  he  was  head,  but  to  which  Eliz- 
abeth had  never  belonged.  It  would  hardly 
be  expected,  therefore,  that  she  would  obey  the 
Pope's  order  to  change  the  calendar  in  England. 
In  the  eastern  part  of  Europe  it  was  the  Greek 


236  The  Tudor  Kings 

and  not  the  Roman  church  that  directed  what 
the  people  should  believe,  and  how  they  should 
worship,  and  they  did  not  obey  the  order  of  Pope 
Gregory.  But  throughout  Catholic  Europe  the 
change  was  made.  This  introduced  into  the 
world  two  styles  of  dating  events.  Christmas 
in  the  New  Style  came  ten  days  sooner  than 
it  did  in  the  Old  Style. 

The  order  of  Pope  Gregory  was  a  very  wise 
one,  and  should  have  been  obeyed  by  everybody, 
whether  Catholic,  or  Protestant,  or  Greek.  It 
was  wise,  because  the  calendar  had  gone  ahead 
of  the  seasons  ten  days  since  it  was  established 
and  if  it  kept  on  long  enough  midwinter  would 
come  in  June  by  the  almanac,  instead  of  in  Jan- 
uary. 

How  could  that  be?  It  happened  in  this  way : 
When  the  Emperor  Julian  made  the  first  cal- 
endar it  was  not  known  just  how  long  it  took 
the  earth  to  revolve  around  the  sun.  They  knew 
it  was  365  days  and  about  6  hours.  But  the  ex- 
act time  is  36*5  days,  5  hours,  48  minutes  and  49 
seconds.  So  the  calendar  makes  the  year  11 
minutes  and  11  seconds  too  long.  When  Greg- 
ory was  Pope  (1582)  the  error  had  grown  through 
the  centuries  since  Julian  (350  A.  D.)  to  ten 
days,  and  Christmas  was  in  the  calendar  where 
the  5th  day  of  January  ought  to  be.  It  was  a 
good  thing,  therefore,  for  all  the  civilized  people 


Elizabeth  237 

in  the  world  to  have  the  calendar  corrected,  but 
it  was  175  years  before  England  adopted  the  new 
style,  and  Russia  follows  the  old  style  to  this  day. 
When  England  made  the  change  the  error 
amounted  to  eleven  (11)  days.  The  Russian 
calendar  is  now  12  days  ahead  of  ours. 

We  now  count  every  fourth  year  a  leap  year 
and  give  it  366  days  as  the  Julian  calendar  did. 
How  does  the  new  style  avoid  the  growth  of  1 1 
minutes  and  11  seconds  of  error  each  year? 
This  problem  is  suggested  to  those  who  do  not 
know  the  answer. 


SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  was  Elizabeth?  Trace  her  relationship  to  William  the 
Conqueror.  What  was  the  hope  of  the  Catholics  and  of  the  Prot- 
estants when  she  came  to  the  throne?  What  do  you  know  of  her  edu- 
cation? How  was  she  like  her  father?  Like  her  mother?  How 
did  the  Pope  receive  her?  Was  she  Protestant  from  religious  con- 
viction? What  was  the  condition  of  the  country?  How  did  she 
stop  ^v^angling  over  religion?  Why  did  she  insist  upon  maintain- 
ing peace  with  other  nations?  Who  were  her  two  greatest  ministers? 
Why  was  her  reign  called  the  Elizabethan  Age  of  Literature?  How 
was  she  able  to  maintain  peace  so  long?  In  her  diplomacy  was  she 
truthful?  How  long  before  the  Pope  finally  excommunicated  her? 
How  did  that  increase  her  personal  danger?  Why  did  Philip 
delay  so  long  before  opening  war  upon  England?  How 
long  had  she  been  queen  when  the  Invincible  Armada  ap- 
peared? How  many  ships  of  war  in  the  fleet?  How  many  soldiers 
were  ready  to  invade  England?  Tell  the  story  of  the  English  cap- 
tains and  their  game  of  bowls  on  Plymouth  green.  How  did  the  size 
of  the  English  fleet  compare  with  that  of  the  Spaniards?  Tell  the 
story  of  the  naval  battle  and  of  smoking  the  enemy  out  of  Dunkirk 
harbor.     How  many  Englishmen  were  killed?    How  many  ot  the 


238  The  Tudor  Kings 

English  vessels  took  any  important  part  in  the  fight?  What  effect 
did  this  great  victory  have  upon  the  English  people?  Upon  the  other 
nations?  How  did  it  increase  the  danger  of  the  queen?  Who  was 
the  head  of  the  conspiracy  against  Elizabeth?  Why  did  the  Eng- 
lish Parliament  refuse  to  declare  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  Elizabeth's 
successor?  Name  the  six  greatest  books  in  the  Elizabethan  age. 
What  is  the  difference  between  the  New  Style  and  the  Old  Style  of 
reckoning  time?     Why  this  difference? 


)!- 


XXIT. 

WHO  WERE  THE  PURITANS? 

You  have  learned  that  from  the  tune  Martin 
Luther  began  the  great  Reformation,  some 
eighty  years  before  the  period  we  are  now  study- 
ing, there  were  two  classes  of  religionists  in 
Europe  at  war  with  each  other;  the  Roman 
Catholics  and  the  Protestants.  At  first  the 
Protestants  merely  asked  to  be  let  alone  and  to 
be  allowed  to  worship  as  they  thought  best. 
But  when  they  grew  stronger  some  of  their  lead- 
ers began  to  insist  that  they  alone  had  discov- 
ered the  truth,  and  that  all  other  sects  of  Prot- 
estants, as  well  as  the  Catholics,  ought  to  wor- 
ship according  to  their  direction.  They  were 
even  more  tyrannical  than  the  Catholic  bishops 
and  priests,  and  much  more  so  than  the  Pope. 
The  Protestants  became  divided  into  sects.  The 
followers  of  Luther  were  called  Lutherans,  and 
the  followers  of  Calvin  were  called  Presbyterians 
because  they  were  governed  by  a  council  called 
a  presbytery.  The  Calvinists  and  the  Luther- 
ans on  the  continent  soon  began  to  quarrel  with 
each  other,  and  in  some  cases  they  came  to  hate 

239 


240  The  Tudor  Kings 

each  other  more  than  either  hated  the  CathoHcs. 
It  was  a  time  when  people  had  narrow  and 
bigoted  views  about  all  matters  and  were  very  su- 
perstitious. Each  sect  believed  it  knew  God's 
thoughts  and  will,  and  that  all  other  sects  were 
teaching  a  false  doctrine  about  him  that  would 
ruin  the  souls  of  those  who  accepted  it. 

The  case  in  England  was  somewhat  different. 
The  Protestants  remained  protesters  against 
the  Pope's  authority  to  dictate  what  they  should 
think  or  how  they  should  worship,  but  until  the 
coming  of  James  I.  they  submitted  to  the  dicta- 
tion of  their  own  sovereign  concerning  the  forms 
of  worship,  while  they  held  themselves  free  to 
think  as  seemed  to  them  most  reasonable.  A 
number  of  translations  of  the  Bible  had  been 
made  into  both  the  English  and  German  lan- 
gviages.  But  the  books  were  very  expensive 
and  difficult  for  the  common  people  to  obtain. 
Neither  the  church  nor  the  rulers  were  generally 
favorable  to  the  circulating  of  the  Scriptures 
among  the  people.  But  Henry  VIII.,  in  the 
midst  of  his  church  reforms,  ordered  that  a  copy 
be  chained  to  every  pulpit  and  that  all  be 
free  to  read  it.  Edward  VI.  and  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth ordered  that  the  people  should  be  free 
to  read  the  Bible  or  to  listen  to  the  reading 
of  it  by  others.  It  became  the  book  most 
diligently   read   by   all   the   plain   people   and 


Who  Were  the  Puritans f  241 

the  gentlefolk.  The  inhabitants  of  London 
crowded  the  churches  daily  to  listen  to  those 
^  Vho  could  read  well  and  had  audible  voices. '^ 

The  great  poet  and  scholar,  John  Milton,  was 
the  noblest  example  of  the  English  Protestants. 
We  would  now  call  him  a  Christian  gentleman, 
seriously  religious  without  bigotry. 

But  the  great  mass  of  Protestants  were  not 
scholars.  They  had  little  sympathy  for  the 
'^new  learning/'  but  the  Bible  revealed  to  them 
a  new  order  of  life,  whose  chief  virtue  was  its 
purity  from  the  sin  and  wickedness  so  prevalent 
in  the  high  life  of  the  period.  They  believed 
in  this  purity  of  life  with  their  '  Vhole  mind,  and 
soul,  and  strength.'^  By  the  ^^fashionable  folk'' 
they  were  called  Puritans,  in  derision;  but  they 
accepted  the  name  as  an  honorable  distinction. 

If  we  remember  that  these  middle  and  lower 
classes  of  Englishmen  read  only  the  one  book,  the 
Bible,  that  they  believed  this  to  be  God's  word 
to  the  world,  and  that  they  read  and  studied  it 
until  much  of  it  was  committed  to  memory,  we 
will  understand  why  it  was  that  so  much  of  the 
language  of  the  Bible  was  used  by  these  Puri- 
tans in  their  every-day  speech. 

WTien  the  sun  burst  through  the  dissolving 
mists  on  the  morning  before  the  battle  of  Dun- 
bar, Oliver  Cromwell  hailed  it  as  a  sign  of  victory 
with  the  words  of  David:     ''Let  God  arise,  and 


242  The  Tudor  Kings 

let  his  enemies  be  scattered.  Like  as  the  sun 
riseth  so  shalt  thou  drive  them  away.'' 

The  names  of  children,  and  some  surnames, 
were  taken  from  the  Bible,  and  many  of  them 
are  still  found  among  the  descendants  of  Puri- 
tan families.  The  soldiers  and  officers  in  Crom- 
well's army  had  such  names  as  Ebenezer  Rest- 
in-the-Lord,  0-be-thankful  Johnson,  Solomon 
Praise-God,  and  the  like. 

A  strong  desire  and  firm  resolve  to  reform  the 
government  and  to  strike  down  the  wicked  and 
sinful  in  high  places  grew  from  year  to  year 
among  the  Puritans.  They  were  not  satisfied  with 
the  mild  form  of  Puritanism  of  John  Milton. 
They   wanted   something   more   active. 

As  the  Puritans  grew  in  numbers  and  strength 
sects  arose  among  them.  The  strongest  of  these 
was  that  of  the  Presbyterians.  A  professor  of 
divinity  in  Cambridge  University  by  the  name 
of  Cartwright  was  the  leader  of  this  sect.  No 
Spanish  inquisitor,  the  most  cruel  of  all  Catholic 
persecutors,  was  ever  so  despotic  and  cniel  as  he. 
For  those  who  were  not  Presbyterians  he  had 
only  one  punishment;  that  was  death.  He  de- 
clared that  ^^all  spiritual  power,  all  creeds,  all 
forms  of  worship  could  only  be  determined  by  an 
assembly  of  Presbyterian  ministers."  They  were 
to  declare  what  every  one  should  believe,  and  to 
punish  those  who  disbelieved.     All  who  did  not 


Who  Were  the  Puritansf  )243 

SO  believe  were  heretics.  Of  these  he  wrote:  ^'I 
deny  that  these  heretics,  even  if  they  repent  of 
their  heresy,  should  be  pardoned.  They  should 
suffer  death.  Heretics  ought  to  be  put  to  death 
now.  If  this  be  bloody,  and  extreme,  I  am  con- 
tent to  be  so  counted,  for  with  me  must  be  count- 
ed the  Holy  Ghost.^' 

It  seems  to  us  impossible  that  a  leader  in  a 
Christian  church  could  advocate  such  wicked- 
ness and  call  it  religion. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  such  men 
read  their  Bibles  with  only  one  idea  in  their 
minds.  They  could  see  nothing  in  it  but  death 
to  unbelievers,  and  it  appeared  to  them  that 
those  who  denied  their  own  interpretation  of  the 
Bible's  words  should  die.  When  we  learn  that 
such  were  the  teachings  of  Protestants  who  pro- 
fessed to  believe  in  freedom  of  worship,  those 
who  are  Protestants  now  will  find  some  excuse 
for  the  persecutions  by  the  Catholics  at  that  time 
and  before.  They  will  charge  these  evils  more 
to  the  ignorance  and  intolerance  of  men  than  to 
their  wickedness. 

We  shall  see  later  how  great  a  part  these  sects 
of  Puritan  Protestants  played  in  England  after 
King  James  and  King  Charles  had  worn  out  their 
patience  in  trying  to  enforce  their  own  claims  of 
divine  right  to  do  wrong  without  much  regard 
to  those  whom  they  wronged. 


244  Tlie  Tudor  Kings 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  were  the  Puritans?  Who  was  John  Milton?  What  weak- 
ened the  union  and  power  of  the  Protestants  on  the  Continent? 
What  caused  the  great  difference  between  the  two  classes  of  Puritans 
represented  by  John  Milton  and  Professor  Cartwright?  What  book 
did  the  Puritans  know  by  heart?  What  difference  do  you  see  be- 
tween the  spirit  of  such  Puritans  as  Prof  .Cartwright  and  the  counsel- 
ors of  Queen  Mary?  Why  was  it  that  the  spirit  of  religious  perse- 
cution ran  so  high  in  this  period? 


THE  STUART  KINGS. 

1603—1714. 


XXIII. 

JAMES  I. 

1603—1625. 

We  have  now  come  to  a  period  in  this  story 
of  our  English  grandfathers  in  which  occurred 
the  last  and  bloodiest  struggle  between  the  rul- 
ers and  their  subjects.  The  Tudors  and  the 
Plantagenets  had  all  declared  that  the  will  of  the 
king  was  supreme,  but  they  had  generally  sought 
to  make  it  so  under  the  forms  of  law.  The  many 
charters  that  the  kings  had  granted  gave  the  peo- 
ple a  right  to  representatives  in  a  parliament 
that  should  help  to  make  the  laws  for  the  nation, 
especially  those  regulating  taxes.  It  has  often 
been  repeated  in  these  pages  that  these  charters 
and  the  laws  and  decisions  made  to  enforce  them 
in  the  different  reigns  came  to  be  regarded  as  the 
constitution  of  England.  In  this  there  is  a 
marked  difference  between  the  constitution  of 
England  and  that  of  the  United  States. 

245 


24G  The  Stuart  Kings 

The  Plantagenet  and  the  Tudor  rulers  gener- 
ally controlled  the  Parliament,  and  only  such 
laws  were  made  as  they  approved. 

During  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  the  Par- 
liament felt  a  greater  independence,  but  Eliza- 
beth was  so  much  beloved  by  the  people  that  she 
generally  had  her  way  with  the  lawmakers.  All 
of  these  monarchs  believed  that  they  alone  had 
the  right  to  make  the  laws  of  the  nation,  but  they 
often  found  it  to  their  interest  to  throw  the  re- 
sponsibility for  an  unpopular  law  back  upon  the 
Parliament,  and  claim  the  credit  of  its  repeal  when 
it  met  with  too  much  opposition. 

While  they  all  claimed  to  rule  by  right  of  birth 
— which  is  another  name  for  ^ ^divine  right' ^ — 
they  were  careful  to  have  the  Parliament  declare 
them  elected  according  to  the  ancient  law  of  the 
realm,  and  to  secure  an  act  of  Parliament  when 
they  wanted  money. 

Elizabeth  died  intimating  her  wish  that  the 
King  of  the  Scots  be  her  successor.  Parliament 
immediately  elected  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  who 
was  the  son  of  Mary  Stuart.  (Mary  would  have 
been  queen  of  England  by  right  of  biith,  but 
there  was  a  law  of  Parliament  that  forbade  a 
Catholic  to  sit  on  the  throne.)  James  was  king, 
therefore,  both  by  right  of  inheritance  and  by  act 
of  Parliament.  But  he  cared  little  for  the  en- 
dorsement of  Parliament.     He  held  that  the 


James  t 


m 


English  throne  was  his  by  divine  right,  and  that 
ParUament  had  no  authority  in  the  matter. 

Who  was  this  King  James? 

The  Stuart  family  had  filled  the  throne  of 
Scotland  for  232  years.     The  father  of  Mary, 


Van  Dyck, 


JAMES  I. 


Queen  of  Scots,  was  a  Stuart  king.  Her  mother 
was  the  daughter  of  the  sister  of  Henry  VIII. 
James  was  not  a  Tudor  in  personal  dignity. 
He  had  '^a  big  head,  a  slobbering  tongue,  rickety 
legs,  goggle  eyes,  and  wore  quilted  clothes,''  as 


248  The  Stuart  Kings 

a  protection  against  assassination.  '^His  gabble 
and  want  of  personal  dignity,  his  coarse  buffoon- 
ery and  drunkenness,  his  pedantry  and  want  of 
physical  courage' '  were  all  in  marked  contrast 
to  the  Tudor  sovereigns.  But  he  was  more  of  a 
man  than  this  description  would  indicate.  He 
had  much  native  ability,  was  a  ripe  scholar, 
shrewd  of  observation,  and  ready  of  wit.  He 
was  an  extensive  reader  and  had  a  good  memory. 
He  prided  himself  on  knowing  theology  better 
than  the  bishops.  Henry  IV.  of  France  said  of 
him  that  he  was  the  ^  Wisest  fool  in  Christen- 
dom.'^  He  spun  many  theories,  but  could  never 
weave  them  into  garments  that  would  fit  any 
practical  demand. 

Such  a  personality  was  utterly  unfit  to  rule 
England.  When  the  Tudor  statesmen  spoke  of 
their  sovereign  as  absolute  and  supreme,  they 
meant  that  he  owed  allegiance  to  no  foreign 
ruler,  nor  to  the  Pope.  But  James  meant  by  it 
that  his  people  had  no  rights  except  those  he 
chose  to  grant  them.  He  had  said,  and  often 
repeated,  that  ^^as  it  was  blasphemy  to  dispute 
what  God  can  do,  so  it  was  presumption  for  a 
subject  to  say  that  a  king  cannot  dp  this  or  that;'' 
and  he  declared  that  the  bishops  had  the  same 
rights  in  the  church  that  he  had  in  the  state. 

There  were  many  Protestants  in  England  that 
believed  in  all  the  essential  requirements  of  the 


James  I  249 

Church  of  England,  but  objected  to  the  wearing 
of  gowns,  and  genuflections  that  seemed  to  them 
only  imitations  of  the  practices  of  the  Catholics, 
and  which  they  thought  it  wrong  to  follow.  They 
a3kcd  that  they  be  permitted  to  omit  in  their 
church  service  these  forms  which  their  con- 
sciences forbade  them  to  use.  James  replied  in 
anger :  ^^I  will  make  you  conform  or  I  will  harry 
you  out  of  the  land.'^ 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  how  impossible 
it  was  for  the  people  of  England  and  their  new 
king  to  live  peaceably  together. 

James  believed  in  the  supremacy  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  declared  himself  to  be  its  head 
as  Henry  VIII.  had  done  before  him. 

During  Elizabeth's  reign  Parliament  had  come 
to  be  acknowledged  as  a  very  important  part 
of  the  government,  but  the  queen  called  for  its 
assistance  no  oftener  than  was  necessary.  With 
the  queen's  consent  a  law  was  passed  forbidding 
the  sovereign  to  levy  taxes  upon  the  people,  ci 
duties  upon  imports  and  exports,  without  tie 
consent  of  Parliament. 

Although  Elizabeth  opposed  every  other  form 
.of  worship  than  that  of  the  English  church,  ^he 
often  closed  her  ears  and  eyes  to  religious  doc- 
trines and  practices  that  she  did  not  approve. 
So  it  happened  that  a  good  deal  of  freedom  of 
worship  grew  up  during  her  reign.     James  soon 


250  The  Stuart  Kings 

changed  all  this  and  enforced  the  law  of  conform- 
ity in  worship  with  great  rigor.  The  members 
of  Parliament  were  generally  good  churchmen, 
but  they  did  not  believe  in  being  too  severe  on 
those  who  were  not. 

The  two  classes  who  wished  forms  of  worship 
different  from  those  of  the  English  Church  were 
the  Catholics  and  the  Puritans.  Both  of  these 
were  bitter  against  the  tyranny  of  King  James. 
James  tried  to  rule  without  a  parliament  after 
his  first  experience  with  one,  and  to  raise  money 
by  illegal  means;  but  after  some  years,  when 
these  means  failed,  he  was  compelled  to  call  a 
new  Parliament.  The  only  condition  upon  which 
it  would  vote  him  money  was  that  he  yield  some 
of  his  lofty  pretensions  to  being  a  monarch 
by  divine  right,  and  that  he  obey  the  English 
constitution  and  refrain  from  taxing  the  people 
without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  Whenever 
Parliament  set  forth  these  demands  his  divine 
majesty  would  grow  very  wroth,  and  send  them 
home  about  their  business.  He  would  then  try 
once  more  to  get  money  by  what  he  called  his 
^  ^prerogative,  ^^  which  really  meant  by  his  right  as 
king.  He  would  fail  and  then  call  another  Par- 
liament. Each  Parliament  made  greater  de- 
mands upon  him  than  the  former  one.  He  was 
finally  compelled  to  yield  in  the  matter  of  illegal 
taxations,  but  he  held  to  his  persecution  of  the 


James  I  251 

Puritans  and  the  Catholics  for  their  refusal  to 
conform  in  their  worship  to  the  forms  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

This  persecution  of  the  Puritans  caused  many 
of  them  to  leave  England.  They  went  first  to 
Holland  and  afterwards  to  America.  In  1620 
some  of  them  set  sail  from  Holland  in  the  ship 
Mayflower.  The  last  town  they  stopped  at  in 
England  after  they  set  sail,  was  Plymouth, 
where,  you  remember,  the  great  English  sea  cap- 
tains were  playing  their  game  of  bowls  when  the 
^^Invincible  Armada'^  came  up  the  channel.  So 
it  came  about  that  the  spot  on  which  the  Puri- 
tans first  landed  in  Massachusetts  was  called 
Pl3niiouth,  and  the  stone  on  which  they  first 
set  foot  when  they  left  the  ship  was  called  Ply- 
mouth Rock. 

Wlien  you  go  to  Boston  you  will  spend  a  day 
in  visiting  Plymouth,  and  you  will  look  upon 
Pl3niiouth  Rock  and  remember  that  this  is  where 
the  Puritans  landed  in  December,  1620,  and 
that  they  came  because  King  James  I.  of  England 
would  not  allow  them  to  worship  in  England  in 
the  way  that  their  consciences  told  them  was 
right.  And  you  should  remember,  too,  that  it 
was  not  a  Catholic  but  a  Protestant  king  that 
denied  to  them  this  freedom. 

You  may  wonder  how  a  king  could  disregard 
the  rights  of  the  people  for  years,  as  James  and 


252  The  Stuart  Kings 

his  son  Charles  did,  and  still  continue  to  rule  and 
to  heap  insults  upon  the  people's  representative 
in  Parliament. 

It  was  for  the  following  reasons: 

1.  For  many  generations  the  people  had 
looked  upon  their  rulers  with  great  reverence 
and  as  superior  beings  who  could  do  no  wrong  as 
kings.  When  wrong  was  done  they  blamed  the 
sovereign's  councilors.  In  Elizabeth's  reign 
their  loyalty  to  the  person  of  the  ruler  had  become 
something  akin  to  worship.  The  repeated 
claims  of  James  that  he  had  a  divine  right  to  be 
obeyed  were  taken  up  by  the  bishops  and  clergy 
and  preached  from  the  pulpits.  James  had  won 
the  support  of  the  bishops  by  claiming  for  them 
a  divine  right  to  be  obeyed  in  the  church. 

Most  of  the  people  were  ignorant  and  simple- 
minded,  and  many  of  the  better  educated  were 
persuaded  that  the  king's  claims  were  reason- 
able. They  thought  that  if  Parliament  would 
obey  the  king  all  would  be  well.  While  a  major- 
ity of  the  members  of  Parliament  opposed  the 
king,  it  is  probable  that  a  majority  of  the  people 
believed  in  his  divine  right  to  rule. 

2.  There  were  laws  on  the  statute  book,  sel- 
dom enforced,  some  of  which  supported  the 
king's  claims,  and  the  lawyers  and  courts  de- 
fended the  king  during  a  large  part  of  his  reign. 
The  judges  were  appointed  by  him  and  must 


James  1  253 

do  his  bidding  or  give  place  to  those  who 
would. 

3.  The  kings  of  England  had  always  dis- 
solved the  Parliament  and  sent  the  members 
home  whenever  they  chose.  This  was  the  es- 
tablished law  of  the  nation.  So  you  see  that 
when  Parliament  talked  back  to  James  and  re- 
fused to  vote  him  money  unless  he  ydelded  to 
their  demands  that  he  should  reform  his  prac- 
tices, and  cease  his  unreasonable  claims  to  arbi- 
trary power,  he  might  say  to  them,  as  King  John 
said  to  the  barons:  ^'I  will  not  yield  up  those 
rights  that  would  make  me  your  slave." 

He  would  then  dismiss  Parliament  and  it 
could  do  no  more,  for  to  continue  to  legislate 
after  the  king  had  ordered  it  dissolved  would  be 
treason. 

But  the  time  came  in  the  reign  of  his  son, 
Charles,  when  the  Parliament  passed  a  law  for- 
bidding the  king  to  dissolve  it,  and  you  will  see 
later  what  came  of  it. 

The  Parliament  did  one  thing  that  had  never 
been  done  before.  It  brought  an  action  in  the 
courts  against  the  king^s  lord  chancellor,  Francis 
Bacon,  for  receiving  l)ribes,  and  the  king  was 
compelled  to  send  him  to  the  Tower,  after  the 
court  decreed  that  the  charge  was  true.  The 
Parliament  declared  that  if  it  was  true  that  under 
the  laws  of  the  realm  the  king  could  do  no  wrong, 


254 


The'  Stuart  Kings 


it  was  not  tnie  that  his  councilors  could  do  no 
wrong,  and  that  they  should  be  punished  for  the 
wrong  they  sanctioned.  This  was  the  first  step 
toward  bringing  the  king  to  account  personally 
for  his  misdeeds. 


Van  Somer, 
FRANCIS  BACON. 


This  lord  chancellor,  Francis  Bacon,  was  at 
this  time  a  very  famous  man  throughout  the 
world.  It  is  probable  that  no  man  in  Europe 
before  or  since  was  so  ^'clever''  as  he.  He  was 
very  great  in  intellect,  but  in  moral  character 


James  I  255 

and  uprightness  he  was  Uke  many  other  men  of 
his  time.  Nothing  of  the  kind  has  ever  been 
written  in  Enghsh  equal  to  Bacon^s  Essays.  It 
would  be  well  if  you  would  study  them  and, 
after  you  have  mastered  their  meaning,  would 
commit  some  of  them  to  memory.  .  No  one  has 
ever  said  so  much  that  is  true  in  so  few  and  so 
fitting  words. 

Bacon  was,  also,  the  discoverer  of  a  new 
method  of  finding  out  truth.  We  call  it  now 
the  scientific  method.  This  method  has  made  it 
possible  for  us  to  harness  the  forces  of  nature, 
and  make  them  do  the  hard  work  of  the  world, 
and  so  become  servants  of  the  human  race.  And 
yet  this  man  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for 
life  for  deciding  cases  brought  before  him,  as 
judge  of  the  court,  in  favor  of  the  party  who 
gave  to  him  the  largest  bribe.  His  excuse  was 
that  all  the  other  officers  and  judges  did  the 
same  thing. 

There  were  many  other  great  writers  who 
lived  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  and  James  I.  The 
best  and  greatest  thing  that  was  done  for  all 
English-speaking  people  in  this  reign  was  a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  English  language. 
An  English  historian  says  of  it :  ^This  EngUsh 
version  of  the  Bible  remains  the  noblest  exam- 
ple of  the  Enghsh  tongue.'^  It  was  James  who 
ordered  the  translation  to  be  made,  and  fifty- 


256  The  Stuart  Kings 

four  very  learned  men  were  chosen  by  him  to  do 
it ;  of  these,  forty-seven  are  known  to  have  taken 
part.  It  has  been  in  use  for  nearly  300  years, 
and  has  had  great  influence  in  preserving  the 
purity  of  the  English  language  among  the  people. 

Another  very  important  thing  for  England 
was  the  union  of  the  countries  of  Scotland  and 
England  under  one  king. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  Tudors  were  the  most 
arbitrary  of  English  monarchs,  and  that  Eng- 
land was,  practically,  an  absolute  monarchy 
under  their  reign,  it  is  also  true  that  freedom  in 
religious  opinions  and  in  thinking  upon  all  sub- 
jects grew  rapidly  during  this  period.  So  long 
as  the  ruler  was  English  and  could  win  the  love 
and  admiration  of  the  people  they  would  endure 
a  good  deal  of  arbitrary  government. 

During  this  long  period  the  conviction  grew 
that  freedom  in  worship  and  freedom  to  think  im- 
plied freedom  to  act,  and  when  James  I.,  who  was 
not  an  Englishman  but  a  small-minded  and  ar- 
rogant Scotchman,  came  to  rule  over  them,  many 
were  quite  ready  to  deny  him  autocratic  power. 
The  divine  right  claimed  by  James  was  quite  an- 
other thing  from  the  divine  right  assumed  but 
never  claimed  by  Elizabeth  or  Henry  VIII. 
EUzabeth  and  Henry  had  a  sort  of  divine  right 
that  rested  in  their  regal  spirit  and  character. 
James  was  too  inferior  a  man  to  be  accepted 


James  I  257 

without  question  as  an  autocratic  king.  That 
king  rules  by  divine  right  whom  every  one  re- 
gards as  the  ablest  and  fittest  to  rule. 

James  undertook  to  ^liarry  the  Puritans  out 
of  England/^  and  many  of  them  came  to  Amer- 
ica. But  he  raised  a  storm  that  swept  his  son 
Charles  ofT  his  throne  and  to  his  death,  and,  as 
one  historian  has  said,  '^made  it  impossible  for 
the  king  henceforth  to  harry  any  one  out  of  the 
land.^^ 

Kmg  James  died  in  1625,  after  he  had  '^har- 
ried^'  the  English  people  for  twenty-two  years, 
and  five  years  after  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  began 
the  first  English  settlement  in  Massachusetts. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  was  James  I.?  How  was  he  related  to  Elizabeth?  To 
Mary  Stuart?  What  law  forbade  Mary  Stuart  to  be  queen,  even  if 
she  had  been  alive  when  Elizabeth  died?  Describe  the  personal  ap- 
pearance of  James  I.  What  did  Henry  IV.  of  France  say  of  him? 
What  did  he  claim  as  his  right  as  head  of  the  state?  As  head  of  the 
church?  What  rights  did  he  grant  to  the  bishops?  What  was  t'lc 
Church  of  England?  By  what  name  is  it  now  known  in  this  coun- 
try? What  effect  did  the  persecution  of  the  king  and  bishops  have 
upon  the  Puritans?  Tell  the  story  of  the  Pilgrims.  Where  is  Plym- 
outh Rock,  and  why  so  named?  Explain  why  it  was  that  the  Eng- 
lish people  endured  the  tyranny  of  James  and  Charles  for  so  long. 
Would  they  permit  it  at  this  time?  Were  all  the  men  in  England 
permitted  to  vote  for  representatives  in  Parliament?  What  is  meant 
by  Vac  English  maxim  that  "the  king  can  do  no  wrong"?  What  wa? 
the  first  step  taken  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  toward  the  punishment 
of  a  king  for  breaking  the  laws?  Write  a  paper  on  "James  I.  and 
His  Times." 


XXIV. 

VIRGINIA. 

We  have  now  come  to  that  time  in  the  history 
of  our  English  grandfathers  when  their  story 
must  blend  more  or  less  with  that  of  our  Ameri- 
can grandfathers. 

The  name  of  Virginia  was  first  given  to  all  the 
territory  claimed  by  the  English,  extending  from 
the  Chesapeake  Bay  to  Florida.  It  was  named 
in  honor  of  Elizabeth,  the  unmarried  Queen  of 
England.  The  name  was  first  given  by  Sir  Wal- 
ter Raleigh,  who  attempted  to  found  a  colony 
there  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Bess.  But  his 
colonists  were  decayed  gentlemen  who  came 
over  to  pick  up  bags  full  of  gold,  and  then  return 
to  England  to  spend  it  in  riotous  living.  They 
had  no  thought  of  working  with  their  hands. 
Of  course  the  Indians  and  famine  made  short 
work  of  them,  and  it  was  not  until  the  reign  of 
James  I.  that  the  first  permanent  settlement 
was  made  at  Jamestown.  John  Smith,  of  Po- 
cahontas fame,  became  the  leading  man  in  the 
colony  about  the  time  that  the  Dutch  began  to 
settle  in  New  Netherlands.  (1610)  When  the 

258 


Virginia  259 

Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  at  Plymouth  (1620)  this 
colony  could  boast  of  an  Assembly  of  Burgesses, 
or  prominent  citizens,  who  were  making  laws 
for  the  settlers.  This  was  the  beginning  of  re- 
publican government  in  Virginia.  When  King 
James  I.  heard  of  it  he  was  very  wroth,  as  was 
his  custom  when  anyone  but  himself  enjoyed 
any  liberty.  But  his  arm  was  not  long  enough 
to  reach  across  the  Atlantic,  and  political  free- 
dom continued  to  grow.  The  people  who  came 
to  Virginia  were  cavaliers  or  royalists,  while  those 
who  went  to  New  England  were  Puritans. 

Now  it  happened  that  in  1619  a  Dutch  vessel 
sailed  up  the  James  river  with  a  cargo  of  black 
slaves  from  Africa.     These  were  bought  by  the. 
cavaliers,  and  by  their  coming  a  whole  Pandora . 
box  of  woes  was  opened  upon  this  country  which 
finally  led  to  the  great  civil  war  in  the  United 
States,  which  ended  in  the  overthrow  of  negro , 
slavery. 

The  Indians  in  Virginia  had  never  been  friendly  ^ 
to  the  settlement  of  the  whites  upon,  their  hunt-, 
ing  grounds.     They  secretly  planned  a  massacre 
of  all  the  English  in  Jamestown  and  vicinity. 
A  friendly  Indian  informed  the  settlers  in  James- 
town of  their  danger  only  a  few  hours  before 
the  time  appointed  for  the  slaughter.     ''On  the: 
evening  before  and  on  that  morning  the  savages 
came  unarmed,  as  usual,  into  the  houses  of:  the > 


260  The  Stuart  Kings 

planters,  with  fruits,  fish,  turkeys,  and  venison 
to  sell.  In  some  places  they  actually  sat  down 
to  breakfast  with  the  English.  At  noon  the  In- 
dians, rising  suddenly  and  everywhere  at  the 
same  time,  butchered  the  colonists  with  their 
own  implements,  sparing  neither  age,  sex,  nor 
condition.  Three  hundred  and  forty-seven  men, 
women,  and  children  were  killed  in  a  few  hours. ^' 

The  Indians  were  driven  off  by  the  people  of 
Jamestown,  who  had  been  warned  in  time,  but 
most  of  the  whites  on  the  plantations  were  killed. 
King  James,  who  did  not  like  the  republican  in- 
dependence that  was  growing  up  in  the  colony, 
declared  that  this  fight  with  the  Indians  was  ev- 
idence that  the  colony  was  a  failure  and  he 
revoked  its  charter. 

But  this  king  by  divine  right  died  soon  after- 
ward, and  Charles  I.  left  the  Virginians  to  them- 
selves. He  had  enough  to  command  his  atten- 
tion in  England,  with  his  Roundhead  parlia- 
ments and  the  Puritan  dissenters  who  treated 
his  divine  right  with  scant  courtesy. 

The  Virginia  colony  was  ever  a  firm  supporter 
of  royalty.  When  Cromwell  came  into  power 
Virginia  was  the  last  to  acknowledge  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  it  was  the  first  to  welcome  with 
loud  acclaim  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 

But  this  loyalty  cooled  when  the  English  gov- 
ernment began  to  interfere  with  the  conmiercc 


Virginia  261 

and  business  prosperity  of  the  colony  by  legisla- 
tio-i  that  took  away  the  rights  of  the  people  to 
G3ll  their  goods  where  they  could  get  the  best 
[):ice  for  them,  and  to  buy  what  they  wanted 
waere  they  could  get  it  the  cheapest.  England 
wanted  all  the  trade  of  the  colonies  upon  her 
own  terms,  which  were  high  prices  for  what  the 
English  merchants  sold  to  the  colonists,  and  low 
prices  for  what  the  colonists  sold  to  the  English. 

All  this  was  after  Charles  II  came  to  his 
throne.  During  the  last  years  of  Cromwell,  the 
Protector,  it  is  said  that  Virginia  sent  word  to 
Charles  that  she  would  raise  his  standard  in  the 
colony  if  there  was  any  hope  of  his  success. 
Charles  advised  his  American  friends  to  wait  a 
little,  until  England  had  been  worn  out  by  the 
military  despotism  of  Cromwell.  The  restored 
king  always  had  a  warm  place  in  his  heart  for 
Virginia,  and  some  historians  declare  that  be- 
cause she  held  him  to  be  king  before  he  had  been 
restored  to  his  English  throne  he  fondly  spoke 
of  her  as  his  ^^Old  Dominion."  Virginia  was 
known  as  the  Old  Dominion  long  after  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary  that 
the  first  congress  of  representatives  of  the  colo- 
nies was  called  to  meet  in  New  York.  William's 
war  with  France  extended  to  America.  It  is 
called  by  some  historians  ^^King  William^s  War/' 


262  The  Stuart  Kings 

and  by  others  the  'Trench  and  Indian  War/^  It 
began  by  a  terrible  slaughter  of  defenseless  peo- 
ple in  Schenectady,  New  York. 

A  band  of  French  soldiers  stole  down  secretly 
from  Canada  (which  then  belonged  to  the  French) 
and  entered  Schenectady  in  the  dead  of  night. 
They  ran  through  the  town  howling  like  sav- 
ages, firing  guns,  and  setting  fire  to  the  buildings. 
The  ground  was  covered  with  snow.  The  peo- 
ple rushed  from  their  burning  dwellings  only  to 
be  slaughtered  by  the  brutal  foe.  Men,  women 
and  children  were  ruthlessly  murdered,  and  the 
town  was  reduced  to  ashes. 

Representatives  of  the  colonies  immediately 
assembled  to  provide  ways  and  means  for  de- 
fending themselves.  This  assembly  is  chiefly 
important  as  being  the  First  American  Congress. 
It  was  the  first  union  of  the  colonies  for  their 
common  defense. 

We  must  remember  that  government  by  the 
people  had  to  grow  in  America  as  it  did  in  Eng- 
land. It  grew  much  faster  in  America,  but  even 
here  its  growth  was  very  slow.  The  wish  of  the 
people  was  to  be  ruled  by  a  king.  Not  till  the 
king's  acts  became  very  oppressive  would  they 
ever  complain. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

How  much  territory  did  Virginia  at  first  include?     Why  was  it 
so  named?     Who  attem{)ted  to  found  the  first  colony?     Why  was  it 


Virginia  263 

unsuccessful?  When  and  where  and  by  whom  was  the  first  perma- 
nent colony  established?  Which  is  the  older,  Plymouth  or  James- 
town? What  offended  James  I.?  When  and  by  whom  were  slaves 
first  imported?  Tell  of  the  Indian  Massacre.  How  was  Jamestown 
saved?  What  difference  between  the  people  who  went  into  Virginia 
and  those  who  colonized  New  England?  What  cooled  the  loyalty 
of  Virginia?  Give  the  story  of  the  beginning  of  King  William's  War. 
What  was  the  first  congress  of  the  colonies?  For  what  purpose  was 
it  called? 


XXV. 

CHARLES  I. 

1625—1649. 

When  we  compare  the  reigns  of  the  Tudor  sov- 
ereigns, one  with  another,  each  is  seen  to  be  dis- 
tinctly different  from  the  one  that  preceded  it. 
But  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  was  a  continuation  of 
that  of  his  father  in  all  matters  of  civil  and  relig- 
ious liberty  and  rights  of  property.  These  were 
matters  that  most  concerned  the  people  at  that 
time.  The  nation  had  high  hopes  that  the  kingly 
Charles,  whose  private  life  was  as  pure  as  his 
manners  were  princely,  had  learned  by  the  mis- 
takes of  his  father,  and  like  Elizabeth,  would 
yield  to  the  manifest  wishes  of  the  people.  But 
that  was  not  to  be.  This  was  a  time  when  peo- 
ple differed  greatly  in  opinion,  and  whether  roy- 
alist or  of  the  party  of  Parliament,  Presbyterian 
or  Episcopalian,  each  thought  that  his  party 
was  wholly  right  and  that  every  one  who  thought 
differently  was  wholly  wrong.  The  spirit  of  tol- 
eration and  of  compromise  had  not  yet  been 
born.     Charles  believed  himself  to  be  the  only 

2G4 


Charles  I 


265 


free  man  in  England.  No  Englishman  had  any 
civil  or  religious  rights  that  he  felt  bound  to  re- 
spect, if  those  rights  conflicted  with  the  right  of 
the  king  to  have  his  own  way. 

Charles  was  twenty-four  years  old  when  he  be- 


Van  Dyck. 


CHARLES  I. 


came  king  in  1625.  This  was  five  years  after  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  in  Massachusetts. 
In  person  he  was  attractive.  He  had  a  kingly 
bearing,  was  courteous  in  manner,  amiable  in 
disposition,    temperate  in  his  habits — and    his 


266  The  Stuart  Kings 

private  life  was  beyond  reproach — qualities  quite 
the  opposite  of  those  of  his  father.  But  he  had 
never  learned  how  important  it  is  for  a  king  to. 
speak  the  truth  and  to  keep  his  word.  He  was 
neithei  faithful  to  his  friends  nor  honorable  to- 
wards his  foes. 

After  prosecuting  a  long  and  somewhat  hu- 
miliating suit  for  the  hand  of  a  Spanish  princess 
and  being  rejected,  he  married  a  princess  of 
France,  Henrietta  Maria,  who  was  a  devoted 
Catholic.     This  displeased  Protestant   England. 

He  retained  his  father^s  prime  minister,  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  a  man  of  courage  and 
ability  and  a  believer  in  the  divine  right  of  the 
king  to  do  wrong  if  that  was  his  pleasure.  The 
people  were  not  pleased  with  that. 

It  was  the  established  law  of  England  that  the 
king  could  not  be  punished  for  any  wrong  doing. 
If  wrong  was  done,  it  was  the  king's  minister 
who  was  legally  responsible  for  it.  If  he  did  not 
wish  to  take  the  responsibility  he  could  resign. 
The  Parliament  under  James  had  punished  two 
ministers,  but  their  offenses  were  their  own  and 
not  the  king's.  The  next  step  would  be  to  call 
the  minister  to  account  for  the  king^s  wrong- 
doing. Buckingham  was  the  king's  minister  of 
state  affairs,  and  Laud  was  his  minister  of  church 
affairs.  Both  were  willing  servants  of  the  king 
who  had  determined  to  secure  order  and  peace 


Charles  I  267 

in  the  government  and  chuich  by  compelling  the 
people  to  do  his  bidding  in  all  things. 

Charles  got  along  after  a  fashion  with  his  Par- 
liaments until  they  asked  him  what  use  he  in- 
tended to  make  of  a  large  sum  of  money  that  he 
demanded  of  them.  He  told  them  that  it  was 
their  business  to  vote  the  money  and  his  right  to 
spend  it  as  he  saw  fit.  The  Parliament  did  not 
like  this  very  well. 

It  had  been  the  custom  of  Parliament  for  very 
many  years  to  grant  tuimage  and  poundage  to 
the  king  for  life.  This  meant  that  all  duties  on 
goods  imported  into  England  were  to  be  the 
king's.  Tunnage  was  a  tax  on  liquors  and  wet 
goods  of  all  kinds,  and  poundage  a  tax  on  all 
other  kinds  of  imports. 

But  Parliament  voted  tunnage  and  poundage 
to  Charles  for  only  one  year.  This  greatly  en- 
raged him.  He  refused  to  accept  it,  and  sent  the 
members  home,  declaring  that  he  would  rule 
without  their  help.  But  he  collected  his  tunnage 
and  poundage  all  the  same  without  any  grant 
from  Parliament.  Never  before  had  a  Parlia- 
ment refused  to  give  the  king  his  import  duties 
for  life,  and  this  offensive  action  widened  the 
breach  between  the  Parliament  and  the  king. 

The  expenses  of  the  king's  court,  of  his  favor- 
ites, and  of  his  wars,  were  great,  and  debts  had 
accumulated  beyond  his  power  to  pay.     He  was 


268  The  Stuart  Kings 

obliged  to  call  another  Parliament.  But  that 
was  more  stubborn  than  the  former,  and  would 
give  him  no  money  until  he  signed  another 
charter. 

This  new  charter  declared  that  the  king 
should  never  again 

(1)  Impose  taxes  without  consent  of  Par- 
liament : 

(2)  Nor  compel  the  people  to  give  his  soldiers 
shelter  and  food  in  their  own  homes : 

(3)  Nor  enforce  martial  law  in  times  of  peace : 

(4)  Nor  send  persons  to  prison  without  giv- 
ing the  reason  for  which  it  was  done. 

This  agreement  was  called  a  ^'Bill  of  Rights.^' 
The  king  was  in  such  straits  for  money  that  he 
was  obliged  to  sign  this  bill,  and  so  these  four  de- 
mands became  four  laws  of  the  land. 

The  king  objected  to  the  last  one  most  of  all, 
for  it  prevented  him  from  bringing  offenders  be- 
fore his  Star  Chamber  Court  and  having  them 
fined,  imprisoned,  or  otherwise  punished  with- 
out trial  by  their  peers.  You  may  remember 
that  the  Star  Chamber  Court  was  created  by 
William  the  Conqueror  to  enable  the  Jews  to  col- 
lect their  debts  from  the  Christians.  No  Jew 
had,  at  the  time  of  William,  any  legal  rights 
whatever,  and  this  Star  Chamber  court  was  en- 
tirely outside  the  laws  of  Parliament.  The  king 
or  his  officer  decided  what  should  be  done  in 


Charles  I 


269 


every  case.     It  ceased  to  be  a  court  of  the  Jews 
when  the  Jews,  after  many  years,  were  granted 


the  same  rights  as  other  Enghshmen  and  could 
sue  and  be  sued  in  the  reofular  courts  of  law.  But 


270  The  Stuart  Kings 

it  was  revived  by  Cardinal  Wolsey  as  an  instru- 
ment of  the  arbitrary  power  of  King  Henry  VIII. 
It  was  abolished  in  the  reign  of  Charles,  by  act  of 
Parliament. 

Charles  found  it  very  difficult  to  raise  money 
enough  by  his  tunnage  and  poundage,  for  he  was 
a  very  extiavagant  king  and  his  officers  made 
great  demands  upon  him.  He  would  get  into 
quarrels  with  other  nations  for  the  purpose  of 
turning  the  attention  of  the  people  from  his  ef- 
forts at  home  to  weaken  the  influence  of  Parlia- 
ment. So  long  as  the  voters  sent  such  men  as 
John  Hampden,  and  Eliot,  and  Pym  to  Parlia- 
ment it  was  impossible  for  him  to  bring  the  gov- 
ernment under  his  personal  control.  Henry 
VIII.  could  do  this  by  getting  the  people  to  elect 
his  friends,  and  so,  too,  could  Queen  Elizabeth  in 
most  cases.  When  she  could  not  have  her  way 
she  would  yield  with  so  much  grace  and  with 
such  loving  words  to  her  people  that  the}^  almost 
regretted  having  insisted  upon  their  rights  so 
stoutly,  and  would  be  sure  to  give  her  all  she 
asked  for  sometinie  afterward.  But  Charles 
seemed  to  think  it  below  the  dignity  of  a  king  to 
win  tlie  love  of  his  subjects. 

So  when  he  wanted  money  he  would  look  up 
some  old  law,  that  had  long  ago  gone  out  of  use, 
and  try  to  enforce  that.  He  found  one  that  gave 
the  king  the  power  to  levy  ship-money  in  times 


Charles  I  271 

of  national  danger.  This  meant  that  he  could 
call  upon  the  seaports  and  other  cities  for  money 
to  pay  for  ships  to  be  used  in  defending  the  na- 
tion against  foreign  foes.  His  judges  told  him 
that  he  could  call  upon  all  the  merchants  and  busi- 
ness men  to  help  pay  the  expenses  of  u^ing  these 
ships.  He  tried  it.  John  Hampden,  a  wealthy 
merchant,  replied:  ^'I  could  lend  you  money, 
but  I  would  not  dare  to  violate  the  great  charter 
which  is  the  constitutional  law  of  England,  by 
paying  to  you  taxes  except  by  a  law  of  Par- 
liament." 

For  this  answer  the  king  sent  Hampden  to 
prison  and  kept  him  so  close  that,  when  com- 
pelled to  release  him,  he  was  so  changed  that 
^^he  looked  not  the  same  ever  afterward.''  This 
scheme  for  raising  money  failed.  There  were 
too  many  men  of  John  Hampden's  opinion. 

Matters  went  on  from  bad  to  worse.  The 
king  would  make  promises  only  to  break  them, 
after  he  had  been  given  what  he  asked.  He 
would  sign  an  agreement  with  Parliament  that 
he  would  make  no  arbitrary  arrests  and  on  the 
same  day  he  would  enter  Parliament  bringing 
with  him  to  the  door  an  armed  guard,  and  order 
the  speaker  to  point  out  men  who  had  said  some- 
thing in  debate  that  displeased  him,  in  order  that 
he  might  arrest  them  and  send  them  to  prison. 

It  was  in  1642,  seventeen   years  after  he  had 


272  The  Stuart  Kings 

come  to  the  throne,  that  Charles,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  January  4th,  had  solemnly  declared  that 
he  would  protect  every  member  of  Parliament 
from  unlawful  arrest  or  violence.  On  that  same 
day  he  came  down  to  the  House  of  Commons  with 
a  guard  to  arrest  five  members  for  what  he  was 
pleased  to  call  treasonable  language  in  debate. 
He  said  to  the  speaker:  ^^By  your  leave,  Mr. 
Speaker,  I  must  borrow  your  chair  for  a  little.'' 
Then  the  king  told  the  house  that  he  had  come 
for  the  bodies  of  Pym,  Hampden,  Hazelrig,  Hol- 
ies and  Strode,  and  asked  the  speaker  to  point 
them  out  to  him.  The  speaker  fell  on  his  knees 
(as  had  long  been  the  custom  in  addressing  a 
a  king)  and  said:  ^^Your  Majesty,  I  have  neither 
eyes  to  see  nor  tongue  to  speak  but  as  the  house 
directs.''  Seeing  how  impossible  it  was  to  have 
his  way  at  that  time,  the  king  replied:  ^Well, 
my  eyes  are  as  good  as  another's.  I  see  the 
birds  have  flown.  But  I  shall  expect  you  to 
send  them  to  me  when  they  return."  (In  the 
story  of  Henry  VIII.,  a  similar  scene  is  described. 
Sir  Thomas  More  was  then  the  speaker.)  Charles 
went  from  the  hall,  humiliated  by  his  failure, 
and  as  he  passed  out  the  members  from  their 
seats  cried  out:  ^Trivilege!"  ^Trivilege!" 
'Trivilege!"  They  meant  by  this  that  Charles 
had  violated  one  of  the  most  sacred  privileges  of 
Parliament    in    thus    breaking    in    upon    their 


Gharks  I 


27a 


KING  CHARLES  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 


274  The  Stuart  Rings 

deliberations.  This  was  a  crowning  insult  to  the 
people's  representatives,  and  both  the  royalists 
and  the  supporters  of  Parliament  now  saw  that 
civil  war  was  at  the  door. 

The  Parliament  in  which  this  scene  occurred 
is  known  in  history  as  the  ^Xong  Parliament." 
All  othfer  Parliaments  had  been  dismissed  when 
they  displeased  the  king,  but  a  law  had  been 
passed,  and  Charles  had  signed  it,  which  forbade 
the  king  to  dissolve  Parliament  without  its  own 
consent.  He  had  signed  this,  and  one  abolishing 
the  Star  Chamber  Court,  and  several  other  bills, 
very  hateful  to  him,  for  the  sake  of  getting  a 
large  grant  of  money.  But  it  soon  became  evi- 
dent that  he  proposed  to  use  the  money  to  gather 
an  army  strong  enough  to  expel  Parliament,  pun- 
ish the  leaders  of  the  opposition,  and  overawe 
the  people. 

The  church  still  retained  much  of  the  old  power 
it  had  in  former  times.  What  it  now  demanded 
was  that  all  people  should  worship  according  to 
its  form.  All  must  use  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  the  priests  and  bishops  must  wear  robes, 
they  must  bow  and  kneel  toward  the  east,  they 
must  bend  the  knees  and  bow  the  head  in  pass- 
ing the  altar  and  when  certain  names  were  spo- 
ken. But  Archbishop  Laud,  the  king's  chief 
officer  of  the  church,  said  that  it  was  not  neces- 
sary that  all  the  people  should  believe  what  they 


Charles  I  275 

said  and  did  in  their  worship.  All  he  required 
was  that  they  should  act  as  though  they  be- 
lieved it.  Unless  they  would  conform  to  this 
order  they  must  be  punished  and  no  one  was  al- 
lowed to  preach  any  other  opinions  than  those 
held  by  the  archbishop,  nor  were  people  per- 
mitted to  worship  together  in  any  place  unless 
they  followed  those  forms.  The  honest  people 
did  not  believe  it  right  to  say  to  God  nor  act  in 
their  worship  of  him  what  they  did  not  believe  to 
be  true. 

Many  Englishmen  who  were  believing  church- 
men did  not  favor  such  rigid  rules,  and  all  the 
dissenters  bitterly  opposed  them.  Their  claim 
was  that  they  should  be  permitted  to  worship  as 
their  consciences  dictated. 

Although  this  was  their  claim,  few  of  the  dis- 
senters had  the  spirit  of  toleration.  The  Calvin- 
ists  believed  that  their  forms  were  the  sacred 
ones,  and  declared  that  they,  too,  were  for  uni- 
formity. They  would  compel  the  Episcopalian, 
the  Baptist,  the  Congregationalist,  and  the  Cath- 
olic to  worship  by  their  forms  and  none  others. 

The  Long  Parliament  had  followed  a  period  of 
eleven  years  in  which  there  was  no  Parliament, 
and  the  people  were  becoming  accustomed  to 
the  arbitrary  rule  of  the -king  and  archbishop. 
They  felt  that  it  was  better  to  bear  the  ills  they 
had  than  fly  to  others  that  they  knew  not  of. 


276  The  Stuart  Kings 

Archbishop  Laud  and  Charles  then  thought  of 
another  step  towards  conformity.  The  Scots 
had  decHned  to  follow  the  English  fashion,  and 
neglected  to  conform  to  English  practices  in  their 
worship.  Laud  undertook  to  compel  them  to 
do  so  and  thus  met  his  own  doom.  The  Scots 
rose  in  rebellion  and  having  driven  the  English 
army  out  of  Scotland  followed  it  into  Eng- 
land. The  Scotch  army  refused  to  return  until 
it  was  paid,  and  it  was  to  obtain  money  that 
Charles  called  the  Long  Parliament  together. 
This  was  also  the  time  when  Charles  was 
compelled  to  sign  the  reform  laws  which  took 
from  him  the  powers  he  claimed  as  a  king  by  di- 
vine right. 

The  attempt  to  coerce  the  Scots  again  aroused 
the  English  to  their  own  bondage  to  arbitrary 
power  in  both  church  and  state.  The  insincerity 
of  Charles  in  signing  the  reform  laws  became  ap- 
parent when  it  was  discovered  that  he  was  en- 
deavoring to  call  in  foreign  soldiers  to  fight 
against  his  own  subjects  and  reduce  them  to  his 
will.  Then  it  was  that  both  sides  began  to  pre- 
pare for  a  civil  war. 

Among  those  prominent  in  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment was  one  Oliver  Cromwell,  a  country  gen- 
tleman of  the  Puritan  faith,  who  had  been  quietly 
farming  his  small  estate  during  the  eleven  years 
that    Charles   had   ruled    England    without    a 


Charles  I     -  277 

Parliament.  We  shall  learn  more  of  him 
later. 

The  king  began  the  civil  war,  which  was  waged 
for  three  years  between  the  royalists  who  be- 
lieved in  the  supreme  riile  of  the  king,  and  those 
Englishmen  who  believed  that  a  Parliament  com- 
posed of  the  representatives  of  the  people  should 
be  supreme  in  the  government.  Through  the 
military  genius  of  Oliver  Cromwell  the  party  of 
the  Parliament  prevailed  over  the  royalists  and 
the  king.  The  king  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
after  some  honest  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
Parliament  to  make  a  compromise  with  him  on  a 
form  of  government,  very  similar  to  that  which 
England  now  enjoys,  and  after  repeated  proof 
that  the  king  was  wholly  treacherous  and  insin- 
cere, seeking  only  for  time  and  an  opportunity  to 
take  off  the  heads  of  his  opponents,  it  was  de- 
cided by  a  commission  appointed  by  Parliament 
that  he  must  lose  his  own  head.  He  was  tried, 
condemned  and  executed  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1649^  after  a  stormy  and  eventful  rule  of 
twenty-four  years.  His  reign  was  a  continued 
warfare  between  the  two  principles  of  the  abso- 
lute rule  of  the  nation  by  one  man,  and  the  abso- 
lute rule  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  in 
Parliament. 

In  the  story  of  Oliver  Cromwell  you  will  learn 
how  it  happened  that  the  English  nation  again 


278  The  Stuart  Kings 

placed  a  king  upon  the  throne,  after  the  over- 
throw of  the  monarchy  notwithstanding  the 
opportunity  to  set  up  a  repubUcan  form  of 
government.  You  will  follow  also,  in  that 
story,  the  fortunes  of  Charles  during  the  three 
years  of  the  civil  war,  and  until  his  death. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  was  King  Charles  I.?  What  can  you  say  of  the  private 
character  of  Charles?  What  were  his  defects  as  a  king?  By  Eng- 
lish custom  who  was  held  responsible  for  the  Avrong  acts  of  the  gov- 
ernment? What  was  the  quarrel  between  Parliament  and  the  king 
concerning  Tunnage  and  Poundage?  What  was  the  New  Charter 
which  Charles  was  compelled  to  sign?  What  is  it  called  in  history? 
Which  of  these  laws  abolished  the  Star  Chamber  Court?  Relate  the 
history  of  this  court.  What  was  ship  money?  What  success  did 
Charles  have  in  collecting  it?  How  did  Charles  violate  the  ''Privi- 
lege" of  Parliament?  How  long  did  Charles  rule  without  a  Parlia- 
ment? Who  was  Archbishop  Laud?  What  did  he  demand  of  the 
people  in  regard  to  worship?  What  made  it  necessary  for  Charles 
to  call  a  new  Parliament?  Why  did  Charles  sign  the  bill  that  for- 
bade him  to  dissolve  the  Parliament  without  its  consent?  What 
followed  when  it  was  discovered  that  he  intended  to  use  the  money 
granted  him  to  hire  foreign  soldiers  to  reduce  his  subjects  to  submis- 
sion?    What  was  the  result  of  the  defeat  of  the  royalist  army  ? 


XXVI. 

NEW  ENGLAND. 

It  was  while  James  I.  was  king  in  1620  that  the 
little  ship,  Mayflower,  brought  over  102  emi- 
grants, including  twenty  families  of  Puritans, 
and  landed  them  in  the  woods  where  now  is  the 
little  town  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  We 
call  them  ^^Our  Pilgrim  Fathers/'  They  were 
known  in  England  as  ^^Brownists,''  or  the  follow- 
ers of  Brown,  one  of  the  many  small  sects  of 
Puritans  that  was  composed  principally  of  la- 
boring people  of  small  wealth  and  influence,  but 
rich  in  firm  religious  convictions,  and  strength 
of  will.  Their  sufferings  from  hunger  and  cold 
during  the  first  winter  were  great,  and  death 
soon  thinned  their  ranks;  but  others  came  with 
supplies  from  time  to  time,  and  the  colony  sur- 
vived and  afterwards  became  a  refuge  to  others 
of  their  faith  from  the  royal  oppression  that  was 
especially  heavy  on  this  particular  sect.  For 
nine  years  from  the  coming  of  the  Mayflower 
emigration  from  the  mother  country  was  very 
slow.     The    colony    numbered  less    than   four 

279 


280  The  Stuart  Kings 

hundred  in  1629,  but  when  Wentworth  and  Laud 
began  their  ^^thorough^'  work  of  making  Eng- 
land Episcopahan,  the  persecuted  Congrega- 
tionahsts  began  to/seek  a  home  in  the  New 
World.  The  Puritans  had  been  electing  Par- 
liaments at  home  and  Charles  had  been  dissolv- 
ing them.  At  length  the  king  concluded,  as  you 
have  learned,  that  he  would  rule  England  with- 
out a  Parliament.  For  eleven  years  the  king 
and  Wentworth  and  Laud  harried  England  be- 
yond the  endurance  of  many  Dissenters,  and  they 
came  to  America  in  large  numbers.  During 
those  eleven  3  ears  20,000  emigrants  settled  in 
New  England  alone,  many  of  them  being  lead- 
ing men  in  wealth  and  station  in  the  mother 
country.  They  belonged  to  the  Congregational,  ■ 
or  Independent,  party  for, the  most  part,  who, 
at  home,  prided  themselves  on  their  toleration, 
but  they  would  allow  no  one  to  live  in  their  col- 
ony who  did  not  conform  to  their  forms  of  wor- 
ship and  government.  In  America  they  were 
as  intolerant  as  the  Presbyterians  and  Episco- 
palians, were  in  England. 

While  the  struggle  between  the  king  and  the 
people  had  been  in  progress  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land had  also  been  settled  by  EngHsh  emigrants. 
The  Catholics  established  a  government  in  Mary,- 
land,  and  gave  notice  to  all  Englishmen  that 
everyone  would  be  free  to  worship  in  that  colony 


New  England  281 

according  to  any  form  he  might  choose 
without  molestation  b}^  the  government.  We 
would  do  well  to  remember  this.  Virginia  was 
also  very  free  in  this  matter  from  the  beginning. 

In  every  colony  representatives  of  the  people 
formed  a  Parliament  or  House  of  Commons  for 
the  government  of  the  colony,  subject  to  the  pro- 
visions of  their  charter,  which  was  their  consti- 
tution.    The  charter  was  given  by  the  king. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  coming  of  the 
Pilgrims  there  was  very  little  money  in  the  col- 
ony. Business  was  carried  on  by  barter,  which 
was  the  exchange  of  one  article  for  another. 
After  a  time  they  began  to  use  corn  for  money, 
and  the  people  preferred  it  to  silver.  They 
would  buy  and  sell  articles  of  small  value  for  a 
certain  number  of  quarts,  or  '^potles,"  or  pecks 
of  corn,  and  the  richest  man  was  he  who  had 
most  corn. 

Plymouth  colony  purchased  the  land  on  which 
they  settled,  and  a  large  tract  besides,  from  the 
English  company  that  had  bought  it  of  the  king. 
They  promised  to  pay  1,800  pounds  sterling 
($9,000)  for  it  within  six  years.  This  was  a 
very  large  sum,  and  they  had  no  money.  So 
they  began  to  trade  with  the  Indians  for  furs, 
pa3dng  them  in  wampum  (Indian  money) .  This 
wampum  they  made  from  seashells,  which  they 
cut  into  round  disks  about  the  size  of  a  penjiy, 


282  The  Stuart  Kings 

making  a  hole  in  the  middle  by  which  they  could 
be  run  on  a  string.  With  this  shell  money  they 
paid  for  their  furs,  and  with  the  furs  they  paid 
the  English  company  for  their  land. 

Later  they  secured  a  charter  which  gave  them 
title  to  all  the  land  from  a  '^rivulet''  called  ^^Co- 
hasset^'  on  the  north  to  the  Narragansett  river  on 
the  south,  and  extending  westward  ^^to  the  West- 
ern Ocean.''  One  year  before  this  grant  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  Company  obtained  a  charter 
giving  them  control  of  all  the  land  from  three 
miles  north  of  the  Merrimac  river  to  three  miles 
south  of  the  Charles,  and  extending  ^^from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Western  Ocean."  It  is  evident 
that  King  Charles  was  ignorant  of  the  amount  of 
land  he  was  granting  to  his  Puritan  foes,  and 
that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  distance  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  'Western  Ocean.'' 

The  charter  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Com- 
pany gave  the  colonists  the  right  to  make  their, 
own  laws,  provided  they  did  not  conflict  with 
the  laws  of  England.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
republican  government  in  New  England. 

In  1630,  ten  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers,  Boston  was  founded.  It  was 
named  from  a  town  in  England,  the  home  of 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony.     Its  first  name  was  Shawmut. 

In  the  government  which  this  colony  set  up 


New  Eng'/ind  283 

the  church  was  the  ruUng  power  and  the  minister 
was  a  man  high  in  authoritVo  Those  who  denied 
the  doctrine  of  the  church  as  they  taught  it  were 
not  thought  worthy  to  be  citi«ens  of  the  colony. 
The  government  of  England  under  Charles  I.  and 
Laud  was  freer  than  that  of  Boston  for  many 
years.  When  these  Bostonians  came  to  Amer- 
ica to  find  freedom  to  v/orship  God  it  was  for 
themselves  and  not  for  others  that  they  sought 
this  freedom.  They  seem  to  have  been  very 
like  their  English  oppressors  in  this  particular. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  our  present  free- 
dom. For  many  years  Baptists  like  Roger  Will- 
iams were  expelled  from  the  colony,  and  a  few 
Quakers  were  even  cruelly  treated  because  they 
did  not  worship  like  the  Congregationalists. 
But  necessity,  in  time,  compelled  all  sects  to 
unite  for  a  common  defense  against  a  common 
foe,  and  this  co-operation  for  tlie  common  good 
cam3  at  length  to  soften  the  bitterness  of  re- 
ligious prejudice.  After  a  longer  period  the 
government  of  the  state  was  separated  from  the 
government  of  the  church,  and  the  laws  of  the 
state  gave  freedom  of  worship  to  all  citizens, 
whether  they  were  Congregationalists  or  noto 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

How  many  Pilgrims  came  over  in  the  Mayflower?  What  was 
the  name  of  this  sect  in  England?  Why  was  emigration  so  slow  dur- 
mg  the  next  nine  years?  Why  was  it  so  rapid  during  the  eleven 
year?  follo^vi2lg?     What  can  you   iay  of  the  religious  tolerance  of 


284 


Ths  Stuart  Kings 


these  dissenters  in  New  England?  .  WTiat  colony  was  the  first  to  pro- 
claim freedom, of  worship?  How: was  business  carried  on  in  the  ear- 
liest years  of  the  colony?    What  passed  as  money  among  the  whites? 


00 


Among  the  Indians?  How  did  the  Plymouth  Colony  pay  for  their 
land?  How  far  west  did  the  land  extend  which  the  king  griinted  te 
the  different  companies?  When  was  Boston  founded?  Wlmt  in- 
duced sects  to  become  more  tolerant  as  time  went  on? 


XXVII. 

OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

1599—1658. 
THE  COMMONWEALTH.     1649—1660. 

Oliver  Cromwell  was  born  in  April,  1599,  one 
year  before  the  birth  of  King  Charles.  He  was 
four  years  old  when  King  James  came  to  the 
throne  of  England.  Cromwell's  account  of  him- 
self was:  ^^I  v/as  by  birth  a  gentleman,  living 
neither  in  any  considerable  height  nor  yet  in  ob- 
scurity.'' His  great-grandmother  was  the  sister 
of  Thomas  Cromwell,  who,  you  remember,  suc- 
ceeded Wolsey  as  prime  minister  of  Plenry  VIIL 
But  his  great-grandfather  was  Richard  Will- 
iams, who  was  a  Welshman  and  a  trusted  agent 
of  Thomas  Cromwell  and  afterwards  of  Henrv 
VIIL  In  Oliver's  marriage  contract,  he  is 
named  ^'Oliver  Cromw;ell,  otherwise  Williams." 
At  what  time  the  family  substituted  the  name 
of  Cromwell  for  that  of  Williams  is  not  known. 

Oliver  was  educated  at  Cambridge  University, 
and  was  a  strict  and  uncompromising  Puritan 
from  boyhood.     He  was  not  a  lover  of  books, 

285 


286  The  Stuart  Kings 

but  he  mastered  one  book  thoroughly.     That 
was  the  Bible.   In  after  years  it  became  his  habit 


OLIVEH   CROMWELL. 


to  use  the  language  of  the  Bible  freely  in  express- 
ing his  thoughts.     His  enemies  spoke  of  him 


Oliver  Cromwell  287 

as  a  ^ ^canting  hypocrite. ''  But  he  was  never  that. 

Cromwell  grew  up  to  be  a  man  of  influence  in 
the  Puritan  community  in  which  he  lived.  This 
was  in  the  county  of  Huntingdon,  a  few  miles 
north  of  London.  He  was  a  member  of  the  last 
Parliament  that  was  dissolved  by  Charles  in  a  fit 
of  anger  because  it  refused  to  do  his  bidding. 
But  he  was  a  silent  member,  having  spoken  but 
once,  and  then  very  briefly. 

A  very  exciting  scene  occurred  in  the  House 
just  before  this  Parliament  was  dismissed. 

You  will  remember  that  the  king  had  signed  a 
bill  known  as  the  ^Tetition  of  Rights,'^  passed 
by  the  former  Parliament.  But  when  he  had 
secured  the  mone}^  that  he  asked  for,  he  refused 
to  obey  the  new  charter  of  liberties  which  he  had 
been  compelled  to  sign.  This  Parliament  in- 
sisted upon  the  king's  keeping  faith  and  the  king 
sent  an  order  to  the  speaker  commanding  Parlia- 
ment to  close  its  session.  The  speaker  was  loyal 
to  the  king  and  arose  to  read  the  order.  Then 
two  members  hurried  forward,  seized  the  speaker 
and  held  him  down  in  his  chair.'  The  doors  were 
locked  and  before  the  speaker  was  permitted  to 
read  the  king's  order,  Eliot's  resolutions  were 
passed  denying  the  right  of  the  king  to  violate 
the  laws  of  the  land,  and  declaring  that  Parlia- 
ment was  determined  to  protect  the  liberties  of 
the  people  granted  by  the  Petition  of  Rights. 

*See  picture  on  page  284. 


288  The  Stuart  Kings 

Charles  had  hurried  a  troop  of  soldiers  to  the 
House  to  enforce  his  order,  but  just  before  they 
arrived  the  resolutions  had  been  adopted,  and 
Parliament  was  ready  to  adjourn. 

Cromwell  went  home,  as  he  was  ordered,  and 
worked  upon  his  farm  for  eleven  years,  watch- 
ing the  course  of  events  but  saying  and  doing 
little.  He  was  waiting  for  God  to  reveal  to  him 
his  duty.  His  study  of  the  Bible  had  convinced 
him  that  if  God  had  anything  for  him  to  do  he 
would  make  it  known  to  hinj. 

Buckingham,  the  king^s  minister,  had  been 
assassinated  by  a  personal  enemy  whom  he  had 
injured,  and  Charles  had  induced  one  of  the  great- 
est of  the  Parliamentary  leaders,  Thomas  Went- 
worth,  to  take  his  place.  Wentworth  was  one 
of  the  ablest  men  in  England,  and  had  been  the 
leader  of  Parliament  in  its  opposition  to  the  king. 
The  Puritans  branded  him  as  a  traitor,  and  final- 
ly took  off  his  head,  but  for  eleven  years  he  ruled 
England,  Ireland  and  Scotland  with  a  ''rod  of 
iron.^^  His  motto  was  'Thorough,"  which 
meant  that  there  should  be  no  compromise  with 
those  who  opposed  the  king.  All  opposition  was 
accounted  as  treason,  and  the  people,  especially 
in  Ireland,  were  slaughtered  by  thousands. 

Archbishop  Laud  was  also  making  "Thor- 
ough'^ his  rule  of  action  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land.   The  judges  who  were  appointed  by  the 


Oliver  Cromwell  289 

king  and  most  of  the  lawyers  went  with  the 
^ Thorough'^  party.  It  was  a  reign  of  terror,  but 
there  was  outward  peace.  The  people  were  stu- 
pefied ])y  fear.  But  the  time  came  when  death 
was  thought  to  be  better  than  the  tyranny  they 
endured. 

You  must  ever  bear  in  mind  that  this  was  a 
time  in  England  when  people  could  not  tolerate 
any  opinions  or  practices  different  from  their 
own,  either  in  religion  or  government.  They 
would  yield  to  a  force  they  could  not  withstand, 
but  if  they  had  the  power  they  would  force  their 
opponents  to  yield  to  them.  In  the  church  the 
Episcopalians  tried  to  compel  the  dissenters  to 
conform,  and  the  dissenters  wished  to  force  the 
Episcopalians  to  follow  their  practice.  In  gov- 
ernment the  king  sought  to  compel  the  Parlia- 
ment to  obey  him,  and  the  Parliament  insisted 
upon  the  implicit  obedience  of  the  king.  Neither 
party  was  willing  to  yield  anything  to  the  other. 

Cromwell  was  hated  by  the  Presbyterians,  be- 
cause he  believed  in  toleration.  He  would  give 
up  some  of  his  own  convictions  to  those  who  op- 
posed him,  provided  they  would  give  up  some  of 
theirs.     But  he,  too,  drew  the  line  on  Catholics. 

After  the  king,  his  archibshop.  Laud,  and  his 
minister,  Wentworth,  had  ruled  by  their  divine 
right  for  eleven  years,  and  had  finally  goaded 
the  Scots  into  a  war  in  which  the  English  were 


290  The  Stuart  Kings 

ingloriously  defeated,  the  time  came  when  the 
government  must  have  more  money  to  meet  ex- 
penses and  pay  off  the  army  than  it  was  able  to 
raise  by  all  of  its  prerogatives,  both  lawful  and 
unlawful.  Parliament  must  help  by  imposing 
a  tax  upon  all  the  property  in  the  kingdom. 

It  was  for  tl^is  reason  that  the  ^^Long  Parlia- 
ment was  called.  It  was  a  long  one  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  king  could  get  nothing  from  Par- 
liament until  he  had  signed  a  law  that  forbade 
him  to  dissolve  it  without  its  own  consent.  It 
was  finally  dissolved  by  force  by  Cromwell,  four 
years  after  the  death  of  the  king  (1653)  and 
nineteen  3^ears  after  it  first  assembled. 

'The  Long  Parliament^'  was  made  up  of  the 
very  flower  of  the  English  gentry  and  the  edu- 
cated laity.''  It  was  an  aristocratic,  rather  than 
a  popular  assembly.  Oliver  Cromwell  was  a 
member  of  this  assembly.  A  friend  of  the  king, 
writing  of  that  time,  said  that  ''one  morning  he 
perceived  a  gentleman  speaking  in  Parliament 
very  ordinarily  dressed  in  a  plain  suit  made  by  a 
poor  tailor,  with  plain  linen  not  very  clean,. and  a 
speck  or  two  of  blood  upon  his  little  hand;  his 
hat  without  a  band ;  his  stature  of  a  good  size ; 
his  sword  stuck  close  to  his  side ;  his  countenance 
swollen  and  reddish ;  his  voice  sharp  and  unmus- 
ical ;  his  eloquence  full  of  fervor.  It  lessened  my 
reverence  for  this  great  council  that  this  gen- 


Oliver  Cromwell  291 

tleman  was  so    very    much   hearkened  unto.'' 

Another  says:  ^ ^Cromwell  expressed  himself 
with  passion,  but  with  such  a  commanding  man- 
ner and  with  such  wisdom  that  he  governed  and 
swayed  the  house.  He  had  most  times  the  lead- 
ng  voice  in  its  deUberations." 

We  see  that  this  silent  man  of  the  former  Par- 
liament had  now  become  a  power  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation. 

Hardly  had  the  Long  Parliament  convened 
when  Thomas  Wentworth — now  Lord  Stafford — 
the  king's  minister,  was  brought  to  trial  for 
treason.  There  was  no  law  by  which  he  could  be 
convicted  of  the  crime.  He  had  merely  obeyed 
the  king's  commands  and  used  his  power  to  en- 
force the  king's  authority  as  the  king  directed. 

But  three-fourths  of  the  people  of  England 
held  Wentworth  to  be  dangerous  to  the  life  and 
liberty  of  every  Englishman,  and,  law  or  no  law, 
he  must  die.  Parliament  knew  and  ^Wentworth 
knew  that  the  issue  was  Stafford's  head  or  the 
heads  of  the  people's  representatives."  The 
king  signed  his  death-warrant,  and  seems  to  have 
felt  no  gratitude  for  his  great  services.  This 
base  desertion  of  a  faithful  servant  is  the  deep- 
est stain  upon  the  character  of  Charles. 

Wentworth  was  sent  to  the  block,  being  the 
first  victim  of  the  people's  right  of  revolution, 
and  of  self-defense. 


292  The  Stuart  Kings 

For  five  more  years  the  king  and  the  Parlia- 
ment continued  to  debate  the  question  whether 
the  one  or  the  other  should  be  absolute  ruler  of 
the  land,  but  the  mendacity  of  the  king  finally 
made  it  plain  that  his  promises  were  made  only 
to  be  broken.  Then  came  three  years  of  civil 
war.  Cromwell  had  become  first  in  Parliament ; 
he  was  now  to  become  first  in  war.  He  had 
everything  to  learn,  but  he  learned  very  rapidly. 
During  the  first  year  of  the  war  the  king^s  forces 
were  generally  successful.  But  Cromwell  dis- 
covered a  remedy  for  the  defects  of  the  people^s 
army.  He  said:  ^^It  is  plain  that  men  of  re- 
ligion are  w^anted  to  withstand  these  gentle- 
men who  fight  for  honor.'^  So  he  gathered 
an  army  of  earnest,  praying  Puritans  who 
believed  their  cause  to  be  God^s  cause,  and 
that  he  would  strengthen  their  arms.  He 
introduced  a  new  method  of  training  the  troops, 
which  was  something  like  that  of  the  Romans 
who  conquered  the  early  Britons.  The  cavalry 
went  into  battle  in  '^close  order,  ^^  riding  knee  to 
knee,  and  the  foot-soldiers  fought  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  or  as  nearly  so  as  the  use  of  their  weap- 
ons would  permit.  The  force  of  the  shock  of  the 
cavalry  when  it  struck  the  opposing  army  over- 
whelmed it.  CromwelPs  cavalry  was  never 
beaten  when  he  was  the  leader.     His  new  tactics 


Oliver  Cromwell  293 

and  new  organization  of  the  forces  for  battle  are 
called  in  history  the  ''New  Model." 

The  last  great  battle  with  the  king  was  that 
of  Naseby.  Charles  was  there  and  as  brave  a 
warrior  as  Cromwell.  But  he  and  his  army 
held  ''the  clownish  army  of  Parliament  and  the 
raw  recruits  in  hearty  contempt."  The  cava- 
liers had  made  a  wooden  image  or  idol,  in  the 
form  of  a  man,  which  they  called  the  god  of  the 
Roundheads  (the  Puritans).  This  they  carried 
forward  amidst  ''howls  and  jeers  of  scorn"  as 
they  came  into  battle. 

Each  army  had  regiments  of  cavalry  to  the 
right  and  the  left  of  the  line  of  battle,  and  the 
foot  soldiers  were  between. 

History  tells  us  that  Cromwell  did  not  reach 
the  battle-ground  until  six  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing of  that  eventful  day,  after  riding  all  night 
with  his  troop  of  Ironsides,  600  strong.  He 
was  commander  of  the  cavalry,  but  not,  at  that 
time,  commander-in-chief.  The  battle  began, 
the  Royalists  being  the  first  to  move  forward  to 
the  attack.  The  army  of  Parliament  was  in  bat- 
tle array  upon  a  rising  ground.  The  infantry 
closed  with  a  shock,  but  neither  side  yielded. 
CromwelPs  horse  were  on  the  right  flank.  Part 
of  them  rushed  to  the  attack  of  the  enemy's 
horse  in  front,  while  Cromwell,  with  his  Ironsides, 


294  The  Stuart  Kings 

went  round  to  the  right  and  attacked  the 
RoyaUst  horse  on  their  left  flank.  The  enemy's 
cavalry  could  not  sustain  this  double  attack  in 
front  and  flank,  and  soon  broke  and  scattered. 
Then  Cromwell  collected  all  his  troops,  except 
one  regiment  sent  to  pursue  the  fugitives,  and 
forming  another  line  of  battle  fell  upon  the  flank 
of  the  enemy's  infantry  that  was  pressing  hard 
the  Puritans.  This  they  charged  again  and 
again  in  front  and  flank,  but  they  could  not 
break  it,  until  some  infantry  in  reserve  came  to 
their  assistance.  Then  the  Royalist  infantry 
broke  and  fled. 

Prince  Rupert,  the  king's  general  of  horse,  who 
was  called  the  best  cavalry  general  in  Europe, 
had  attacked  the  Puritan  cavalry  on  the  left  of 
the  Parliamentary  army  in  the  first  part  of  the 
engagement,  and  compelled  them  to  give  way. 
But  instead  of  holding  his  horsemen  in  check 
and  bringing  them  to  the  help  of  the  Royalist 
foot-soldiers,  he  rode  with  his  troops  after  the 
fugitives,  and  when  he  returned  the  battle  was 
lost. 

Immediately  the  king  attempted  to  form  again 
the  fugitives  that  had  rallied  to  his  standard,  and 
Cromwell  once  more  formed  a  third  line  of  bat- 
tle and  advanced  to  the  attack.  Charles  seemed 
determined  to  meet  him  and  conquer  or  die  on 


•  Oliver  Cromwell  2^5 

the  field,  but  one  of  his  generals  seized  his  horse 
by  the  bridle  and  exclaimed :  '^Will  you  go  upon 
your  death  in  an  instant?' '  The  king  turned  his 
horse  ^^in  a  half -conscious  way/'  and  instantly 
all  his  companions  wheeled  and  fled  and  the 
king's  cause  was  lost  to  him  forever. 

Naseby  was  the  decisive  battle  of  the  war. 
Charles  retreated  to  Oxford  and  within  six 
months  surrendered  his  person  to  the  Scots  and 
became  a  prisoner  of  war. 

Cromwell  had  now  proved  himself  to  be  the 
greatest  general  in  England,  if  not  in  Europe. 

For  four  years  after  the  battle  of  Naseby 
Charles  lived  a  prisoner.  During  this  period 
the  king's  friends  fought  a  second  civil  war  with 
the  Parliamentary  army.  Cromwell  was  every- 
where victorious,  and  in  the  battle  of  Preston, 
three  years  after  Naseby,  the  Royalist  forces  were 
cut  to  pieces. 

But  victories  did  not  bring  peace.  The  king 
still  lived,  and  while  he  was  alive  his  friends  at 
home  and  abroad  were  working  for  his  restora- 
tion to  his  throne.  Among  his  papers  captured 
at  the  battle  of  Naseby  were  unmistakable  proofs 
of  his  promises  to  bring  the  Catholics  back 
into  power,  while,  at  the  same  time,  he  was  ne- 
gotiating with  a  Presbyterian  Parliament  for 
terms  of  settlement.     No  one  knew  which  party 


Sd6  The  Stuart  Kings 

he  intended  to  betray,  and  Parliament  knew 
from  past  experience  that  they  could  not  depend 
on  anything  he  promised. 

But  the  Puritans  were  at  war  among  them- 
selves. Most  of  those  who  were  in  Parliament 
were  either  Presbyterians  or  Episcopalians. 
Cromwell  and  his  party  were  Independents, 
sometimes  called  Congregationalists.  They  were 
more  tolerant  than  the  other  sects,  and  for  this 
reason  were  hated  even  more  than  the  Catholics 
by  the  Presbyterians.  Parliament  was  ruled 
by  the  Presbyterians  who  wished  to  restore 
Charles  to  the  throne  on  condition  that  he  would 
make  the  Presbyterian  creed  and  catechism 
the  supreme  law  of  the  church,  and  compel 
every  one  to  worship  according  to  their  forms. 
Charles  would  not  do  this,  but  promised  to  yield 
to  their  wishes  so  far  that  they  agreed  to  bring 
him  back  to  power  fearing  that  the  Independent 
arm}^  would  take  control  of  the  government. 
The  army  sent  in  a  written  remonstrance  to  this 
agreement,  to  which  the  Commons  gave  no  heed. 

The  arm}^  then  came  to  London  and  sent  Colo- 
nel Pride  with  a  band  of  armed  men  to  ^^purge'' 
the  House.  One  hundred  and  forty-three  Pres- 
byterian and  Royalist  members  were  expelled 
from  Parliament  by  force.  This  is  known  in 
history  as  ^Tride's  Purge.^'  The  remainder  then 
voted  to  bring  King  Charles  to  trial. 


Oliver  Cromwell  297 

It  does  not  appear  that  Cromwell  took  any 
part  in  these  proceedings,  but  he  was  a  member 
of  the  court  of  sixty-two  that  tried  the  king. 
They  brought  in  the  verdict  that  Charles  was 
'^a  tyrant,  traitor,  murderer,  and  public  enemy 
of  the  good  people  of  the  nation, ''  and  the  sen- 
tence was  that  he  ^  ^should  be  put  to  death  by 
severing  his  head  from  his  bbdy/^  In  three  days 
the  sentence  was  executed,  and  Charles  I.,  King 
of  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  went  to  his 
final  reward.  Cromwell  voted  for  his  execution 
and  was  active  in  persuading  others  to  do  the 
same.  He  is  reported  to  have  called  it  a  ^^cruel 
necessity.'^  ^^Either  the  king's  head  or  mine'' 
was  his  evident  conviction.  The  English  nation 
and  all  Europe  shivered  with  horror. 

When  the  Long  Parliament  convened  five- 
sixths  of  the  people  of  England  rejoiced.  Now, 
after  the  execution  of  the  king,  five-sevenths  of 
them  thought  of  the  remnant  of  the  House  of 
Commons  as  traitors  and  regicides. 

All  regarded  the  trial  and  conviction  of  the 
king  as  a  violation  of  the  law  of  the  realm.  The 
right  of  revolution — the  higher  law — was  not 
then  acknowledged  by  the  nation. 

The  preservation  of  peace  and  order  in  the 
land  now  depended  upon  one  man,  Oliver  Crom- 
well, who  was  the  idol  of  the  army  which  had 
done  this  deed.     The  trial  of  the  king  was  merely 


298  The  Stuart  Kings 

a  '^drum-head  court-martiar^ — outside  of  civil 
order  and  civil  law. 

Rebellion  and  disorder  broke  out  afresh  in 
many  quarters.  Cromwell  stamped  it  out  in 
slaughter  most  bloody.  Then  came  the  attempt 
to  set  up  a  new  government  called  ^The  Com- 
monwealth.'^ Cromwell  was  a  great  general, 
but  not  a  statesman  great  enough  to  establish  a 
free  government  in  England  in  the  midst  of  the 
many  warring  factions,  each  of  which  believed 
that  it  alone  knew  the  will  of  God,  and  that  all 
others  were  preachers  of  false  doctrine  and  ene- 
mies of  their  country. 

Cromwell  continued  to  be  the  idol  of  the  army 
and  his  was  the  arm  of  power.  They  named 
him  "Protector  of  the  Commonwealth, '^  and  he 
became  one  of  the  most  arbitrary  rulers  that 
England  ever  had.  But  he  so  used  his  power 
that  England  recovered  her  former  position  as 
one  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  world,  and  the 
crowned  heads  of  Europe  bowed  in  homage  to 
the  "Great  Protector. '^  But  the  people  hated 
Cromwell's  government  and  within  two  years 
after  his  death  the  monarchy  was  restored,  with 
King  Charles  II.,  the  son  of  Charles  I.,  on  the 
throne.  It  was  the  army  that  set  up  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  the  army  brought  back  the  king. 
But  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  king  by  divine  right 
was   never  again    to  be  acknowledged  by  the 


Oliver  Cromwell  299 

English  people.  From  this  time  the  ^  ^Council  of  the 
Wise"  of  the  ancient  Saxons  was  to  protect  the 
liberties  of  the  people  from  the  tyranny  of  kings. 
This  council  was  called  Parliament  as  before, 
but  its  power  was  now  acknowledged  by  the  na- 
tion, and  the  king  could  not  henceforth  rob  the 
people  of  their  constitutional  rights  without  the 
corisent  of  the  House  of  Commons.  It  some- 
unics,  yes,  too  often  consented.  That  was  be- 
cciu.se  the  people  did  not  always  elect  to  Parlia- 
ment honest  and  true  men,  who  could  not  be 
I  :i':^ed  with  money  nor  with  office  to  betray 
their  trust. 

Cromwell  died  in  1659,  five  years  after  he  had 
become  Lord  Protector.  There  were  then  few 
in  England  to  do  him  reverence,  and  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years  history  wrote  his  name  among 
those  of  tyrants,  traitois  and  murderers. 

The  poet,  Milton,  who  knew  him  well,  spoke 
not  so  ill  of  him;  ^'Our  Chief  of  Men,"  he  named 
him.  The  world  has  since  discovered  that  ''all 
the  ends  he  aimed  at  were  his  country's,  his 
God's,  and  truth's"  as  he  understood  them. 
He  v/as  great  in  most  things  that  make  men 
gieat.  Those  things  for  which  he  is  most 
blamed  must  be  charged  to  the  intolerance 
of  his  age,  and  his  want  of  statesmanship  of  the 
highest  order.  He  desired  to  be  elected  king  by 
Parliament,  because  he  believed  that  as  king  he 


300  The  Stuart  Kings 

would  have  greater  power  to  set  up  a  free  gov- 
ernment in  England.  But  the  generals  of  the 
army  refused  to  consent  to  place  another  king 
upon  the  throne,  and  the  people  continued  to 
think  that  he  had  no  right  to  the  power  he 
wielded.  Therefore  he  could  maintain  order 
only  by  force,  and  he  ruled  England  by  martial 
law,  which  was  most  hateful  to  all  England. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  relation  was  Oliver  Cromwell  to  Thomas  Cromwell,  the 
successor  of  Cardinal  Wolsey?  What  did  he  mean  by  describing  him 
self  as  a  "gentleman"?  When  did  Oliver  Cromwell  first  enter  Par- 
liament? What  happened  when  Charles  I.  sent  an  order  to  this  Par- 
liament to  dissolve?  How  did  Cromwell  spend  the  next  eleven  years? 
What  was  the  motto  of  Charles  and  his  ministers  in  their  treatment 
of  dissenters  and  of  those  who  opposed  the  king's  claim  to  divine 
right?  What  compelled  the  king  to  call  another  Parliament?  What 
was  one  of  the  conditions  on  which  they  voted  the  money  he  asked 
for?  How  long  did  this  Parliament  sit?  What  had  the  eleven 
years  of  study  and  of  waiting  done  for  Cromwell?  What  was  one  of 
the  first  acts  of  this  body?  By  searching  you  may  find  some  excuse 
for  what  is  generally  considered  a  base  desertion  of  a  faithful  servant 
by  the  king.  How  long  after  Stafford's  execution  before  the  civil 
war?  What  was  Cromwell's  remedy  for  the  weakness  of  his  array? 
Describe  the  battle  of  Naseby.  How  long  was  the  king  a  prisoner? 
What  weakened  the  Puritan  cause?  When  was  the  second  c\\\\  war 
fought?  To  whom  alone  does  historj'  give  the  credit  of  the  entire 
overthrow  of  the  royalists  in  this  war?  Why  did  not  these  ^dctories 
bring  pkcace?  Describe  "Pride's  Purge."  What  was  the  decree  of 
the  court  that  tried  the  king?  What  effect  did  the  execution  of  the 
king  have  upon  Englishmen  and  upon  Europe?  How  did  Cromwell 
maintain  order?  How  was  he  regarded  by  foreign  nations?  What 
was  his  title?    Why  not  that  of  king? 


XXVIII. 

CHARLES  11.  AND  JAMES  II. 

1660—1688. 

When  Oliver  Cromwell  died  a  large  part  of  the 
English  people  called  for  the  restoration  of  kingly 
power.  They  had  groaned  for  years  under  the 
tyranny  of  the  army  and  of  Cromwell  The  Pro- 
tector, and  had  forgotten  the  greater  tyranny 
of  Charles  I.  and  his  two  ministers.  Charles  II. 
was  known  to  be  a  merry  fellow,  and  England 
thought  she  would  enjo}^  a  ^^merry  monarch" 
after  the  rigid  rule  of  Charles  I.  and  of  Cromwell, 
both  of  whom  took  life  too  seriously.  But  how 
could  Charles  11.  be  brought  to  the  throne  while 
the  Rump  Parliament  (what  was  left  of  the  Long 
Parliament  after  Pride's  Purge)  and  the  Military 
Council,  and  Richard  Cromwell  were  the  ruling 
powers  and  opposed  to  his  return? 

It  happened  in  this  way : 

General  Monk  was,  next  to  Cromwell,  the  gen- 
eral of  highest  rank  in  England.  He  had  been  a 
revolutionary  commander  and  a  staunch  sup- 
porter of  Cromwell.  When  the  Great  Protector 

301 


302  The  Stuart  Kings 

died  Monk  was  in  Scotland  at  the  head  of  a  large 
army  that  would  follow  wherever  he  led.  He 
had  discovered  how  impossible  it  was  to  estab- 
lish a  republican  government  in  England  in  the 
midst  of  so  many  opposing  opinions  and  so  much 
intolerance.  He  saw,  too,  that  the  English 
had  not  yet  been  weaned  from  the  habit  of  look- 
ing to  the  royal  family  for  a  king  to  rule  them. 

He  called  upon  the  young  Protector,  Richard, 
(who  had  been  declared  his  father's  successor) 
and  upon  his  Council,  to  order  a  free  election  of 
a  free  Parliament  by  the  people.  Those  in  power 
refused  to  do  this,  for  they  knew  that  it  would 
bring  in  the  king.  Then  General  Monk  came 
down  to  London  with  his  army  and  told  Parlia- 
ment, Protector,  and  Council,  to  give  place  to  a 
council  selected  from  the  great  men  of  the  nation 
who  believed  in  toleration  and  in  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  constitutional  rights  of  Englishmen. 

It  was  this  body  that  invited  Charles,  the  son 
of  Charles  I.,  to  become  Charles  II.,  King  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  Charles  came 
in  1660,  after  promising  that  his  father's  enemies 
should  be  forgiven;  that  their  rights  to  property 
should  be  protected ;  that  they  were  all  to  start 
anew;  and  that  the  nation  should  be  governed 
henceforth  according  to  the  Constitution  of  Eng- 
land as  the  ancient  charters,  and  Parliaments, 
and  kings  had  declared  it  to  be. 


Charles  II  and  James  II  303 

So  Charles  II.  came  home,  and  there  was  great 
rejoicing  among  the  people.  This  merry  gentle- 
man would,  henceforth,  rule  over  a  merry  Eng- 
land— so  they  then  thought.  But  alas!  The 
merriment  of  King  Charles  was  soon  found  to  be 
of  a  sort  to  make  the  hearts  of  all  the  better 
classes  of  English  people  burn  with  shame  and 
indignation. 

The  king's  court,  which  ought  to  be  in  every 
country  where  there  is  a  king,  the  best  example 
of  a  high  order  of  society  in  the  kingdom,  was 
the  most  wicked  and  profligate  ever  known  in 
England.  .  Its  profligacy  was  equaled  only  by 
the  court  of  Louis  XIV.  in  France,  the  most  dis- 
solute of  French  monarchs,  and  the  bosom  friend 
of  Charles.  Both  were  secretly  plotting  to- 
gether for  the  return  of  the  English  church  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  fold.  The  pledges  of  the  king 
to  the  people  were  soon  forgotten.  He  held  in 
contempt  those  who  stood  for  conscience,  duty 
and  purity,  calling  them  hypocrites  who  were 
using  these  pretensions  as  a  cloak  to  conceal  their 
own  secret  and  selfish  aims.  He  had  neither 
gratitude  nor  honor;  loved  no  one  but  himself, 
and  hated  no  one.  A  supreme  contempt  for 
mankind  seemed  to  be  his  ruling  sentiment.  He 
loved  pleasure,  and  to  secure  it  he  would  yield  to 
his  Parliament  when  he  thought  his  head  would 
be  in  danger  should  he  refuse.     He  would  say : 


304  The  Stuart  Kings 

' 'I  have  no  desire  to  begin  my  wanderings  again. '^ 

But  the  Parhament  first  called  by  the  king 
was  little  better  than  the  king,  during  the  first 
half  of  his  reign.  The  great  burst  of  loyal  senti- 
ment when  he  was  called  to  the  throne,  resulted 
in  the  election  of  merry  men  of  his  own  class, 
and  a  new  election  was  not  called  for  many  years. 
But  even  such  men  as  belonged  to  his  set  were 
compelled  to  protest  against  the  tyranny  of  this 
merry  monarch  when  the  people  began  to 
threaten  another  rebellion. 

During  this  reign  there  was  a  great  plague  in 
England,  which  was  especially  severe  in  London. 
Eight  thousand  died  in  a  single  week,  and  more 
than  100,000  perished  before  it  abated.  This 
was  in  1665,  when  our  merry  monarch  hud  been 
only  five  years  on  the  throne.  His  merry  court 
all  fled  from  the  country  in  teiror,  but,  to  the 
credit  of  Charles,  he  remained  at  his  post.  With 
all  his  faults  he  was  no  coward. 

In  the  next  year,  in  September,  was  the  great 
fire  in  London.  It  burned  for  five  days,  destroy- 
ing 13,000  homes  and  business  houses  and  eighty- 
nine  churches. 

The  plague  was  caused  by  the  filthiness  of  the 
city  and  want  of  drainage.  The  fire  was  so  dis- 
astrous because  of  the  large  number  of  wooden 
buildings  in  that  part  of  London..  After  it  had 
burned  for  five  days  it  occurred  to  some  one  to 


Charles  II  and.  James  It  SOS 

blow  up  the  buildings  in  front  of  the  line  of  the 
fire.  This  done,  the  conflagration  ceased.  Dur- 
ing these  two  years  of  pestilence  and  fire  England 
was  not  so  merry^  and  was  never  quite  so  merry 
afterward. 

It  was  found  that  these  merry  men,  with  their 
^^merry  monarch''  were  not  good  rulers.  They 
had  gone  to  war  with  the  Dutch  to  please  Louis 
XIV.  of  France,  and  the  Dutch  war  fleet  had 
swept  the  English  from  the  sea,  and  while  the 
plague  was  raging  they  sailed  up  the  river 
Thames  and  burned  the  warships  of  the  English 
that  lay  at  anchor  near. the  shore. 

This  will  remind  you  of  the  feats  of  the  Saxons 
and  Angles  when  they  first  invaded  Briton. 

At  this  time  (1667)  Milton  published  his  'Tar- 
adise  Lost."  It  is  a  great  poem,  telling  of  the 
loss  of  freedom  and  happiness  to  man  by  the  com- 
ing into  the  world  of  sin  and  wickedness.  The 
coming  in  of  Charles  II.  seemed  now,  to  many 
Englishmen,  to  threaten  the  loss  of  their  freedom 
and  happiness  because  of  the  sin  and  wickedness 
of  the  king  and  his  advisers.  Five  thousand 
Quakers  were  in  prison  because  of  their  religion, 
and  John  Bunyan,  the  author  of  ^Tilgrim's 
Progress,"  and  thousands  of  other  pious  people, 
were  in  jail  because  of  their  piety.  Probably 
the  Christian  world  would  never  have  had  ^Til- 
grim's  Progress"  had  not  John  Bunyan  been  im- 


306     "  The  Stuart  Kings 

prisoned  in  Bedford  jail,  where  he  had  time  and 
opportunity  to  write  it. 

One  of  the  artful  dodges  of  Charles  to  secure 
the  support  of  the  Puritans  who  dissented  from 
the  Church  of  England  was  to  advocate  a  law 
giving  to  all  people  in  England  the  right  to  wor- 
ship as  their  consciences  bade  them.  This  would 
give  the  Catholics  the  right  to  set  up  their 
churches  again  and  would  be  of  great  assistance 
in  the  revolution  contemplated  by  the  king. 
But  the  dissenters  chose  to  be  persecuted  by  the 
Episcopalians  rather  than  to  help  Charles  bring 
the  Catholic  church  into  power  again. 

The  secret  conspiracy  of  Charles  with  Louis 
XIV.  of  France,  was  unknown  to  the  people  and 
even  to  the  king's  own  councilors.  Charles  had, 
from  the  beginning,  sought  to  secure  a  standing 
army  large  enough  to  enable  him  to  put  down 
rebellion  when  the  time  was  ripe  for  the  over- 
throw of '  Protestantism,  and  for  the  establish- 
ment of  Catholicism  as  the  religion  of  England. 
The  Parliament  long  suspected  him  of  some  de- 
sign against  the  established  church,  and  would 
often  refuse  to  grant  him  supplies  until  certain 
orders  of  his  were  countermanded.  Charles 
would  yield  for  the  time,  but  he  never  ceased  to 
plot.  The  king  of  France  would  send  him  large 
sums  of  money  when  Parliament  would  refuse 
to  grant  what  he  asked.     Charles  had  a^^reed  to 


/ 

/ 

Charles  II  and  James  II  307 

send  assistance  to  Louis  when  hard  pressed  by 
foes,  and  Louis  had  promised  the  same  to  Charles.. 
To  prepare  the  way  for  his  revolution  Charles  ap- 
pointed to  the  important  offices  of  the  state  and 
of  the  army  many  Catholics,  and  in  the  Church 
of  England  priests  and  bishops  were  found  who 
were  Catholics  at  heart.     Now  there  was  a  law 
that  forbade  Catholics  to  hold  office,  but  the 
merry  Parliament  had  paid  little  regard  to  its  en- 
forcement.    The  plan  of  Charles  was  to  declare 
suddenly  for  the  Catholic  religion  and  with  his 
own  standing  army,  assisted  by  one  from  France, 
he  would  be  able  to  put  down  all  rebellion  with 
an  iron  hand  before  it  could  gather  strength 
enough   to   make  head   against  him.     He  be- 
lieved that  his  people  would  nevei  suspect  their 
merry  monarch  of  so  serious  a  scheme  as  that, 
and  he  conthmed  to  play  the  idler  and  the  pleas- 
ure seeker,  to  conceal  from  them  his  true  design. 
In  this  he  succeeded  to  a  great  extent.     But  the 
demand  for  a  new  Parliament  became  so  loud 
and  imperative  that  Charles  finally  yielded.  The 
new  Parliament  revived  the  law  excluding  Cath- 
olics from  office  and  Parliament  then  discovered 
how  near  to  their  fulfillment  the  designs  of  the 
king  had  advanced,  when  they  learned  how  man^^ 
of  the  high  offices  of  state  and  church  were  filled 
by  Catholics. 

But  the  people  in  general  knew  little  of  their 


308  The  Stuart  Kings 

danger,  and  Charles,  by  another  artful  dodge, 
made  them  beheve  that  he  had  been  slandered 
and  insulted  by  his  accusers.  There  was  a  sud- 
den reaction,  and  another  burst  of  popular  loy- 
alty to  the  ''Merry  Monarch,''  who  was  again 
restored  to  public  favor.  He  again  began  his 
scheme  of  filling  the  offices  with  Catholics  pre- 
paratory to  the  overthrow  of  Protestantism  in 
England. 

Fortunately  the  king  died  at  the  time  when 
the  people  were  willing  to  trust  him  with  abso- 
lute power  in  compensation  for  what  they  be- 
lieved their  unjust  suspicions  of  his  loyalty  to 
the  constitution.  Before  his  death  he  was  form- 
ally received  into  the  Catholic  church.  Re- 
ligion was  never  a  matter  of  the  heart  with  him, 
but  only  a  matter  of  state  policy.  It  was  a  time 
when  Protestantism  seemed  to  be  tottering  to  its 
fall  all  over  Europe,  and  Charles  wished  to  com- 
plete its  ruin  by  carrying  England  over  to  the 
Catholic  communion. 

He  died  in  1685,  after  having  ruled  twenty-five 
years.  He  had  an  intellect  worthy  of  a  better 
heart,  of  worthier  convictions  of  duty,  and  of 
higher  ideals  of  life.  He  seems  to  have  been 
bgrn  deficient  in  moral  sense.  Aaron  Burr,  who 
was  once  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  is 
his  counterpart  in  American  history. 

It  will  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  all  these  re- 


Charles  II  and  James  III  309 

ligious  wars  and  dissensions  in  England  arose 
from  the  belief  that  it  was  the  business  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  declare  what  the  religion  of  the  peo- 
ple should  be.  When  the  American  people  set 
up  their  government  it  was  declared  that  the 
state  should  not  undertake  to  establish  a  religion 
of  any  sort,  but  that  the  people  should  be  free  to 
choose  for  themselves  in  what  church,  if  any, 
they  would  worship.  No  man  is  barred  from 
holding  office  because  of  his  religion. 

We  should  not  forget  one  good  thing  that  has 
come  down  to  us  from  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
This  is  the  habeas  corpus  law.  For  many  hundred 
years  the  king  or  his  private  council  had  been 
permitted  to  arrest  a  man  and  throw  him  into 
prison  and  hold  him  prisoner  for  any  length  of 
time  without  trial.  By  this  practice  any  one 
whom  the  king  suspected  of  being  an  enemy,  or 
whom  he  disliked,  could  be  deprived  of  his  lib- 
erty at  the  king's  pleasure,  and  for  an  indefinite 
period. 

A  law  called  ^^ Habeas  Corpus^ ^  was  enacted 
during  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  which  gave  to 
every  Englishman  the  right  to  be  brought  before 
the  court  immediately  upon  being  arrested,  and 
to  have  his  accuser  state  why  he  was  arrested. 
The  judge  would  then  determine  whether  his  ar- 
rest was  legal  or  not.  If  the  arrest  was  approved 
by  the  judge  the  law  required  that  he  should  be 


310  The  Stuart  Kings 

tried  for  the  offense  not  later  than  the  second 
term  of  court  after  his  imprisonment.  A  judge 
who  refused  a  prisoner  his  habeas  corpus  was  se- 
verely punished.  If  set  free  by  the  court  he 
could  not  be  again  imprisoned  for  the  same  of- 
fense. 

This  was  a  very  ancient  right  acknowledged 
by  the  Great  Charter  given  by  King  John,  but 
every  king  of  England  had  been  able  to  disregard 
the  right  by  securing  a  decision  from  the  courts, 
and  to  send  the  people  to  prison  at  will.  This 
habeas  corpus  law  was  the  first  to  so  guard  the 
people's  rights  that  the  king  could  no  longer  im- 
prison his  subjects  without  stating  why  they 
were  arrested,  and  without  giving  them  a  speedy 
trial  when  the  arrest  was  legal. 

^'Habeas  Corpus^'  is  a  Latin  phrase,  and  means 
^Take  the  Body.''  These  were  the .  first  two 
words  of  the  order,  given  to  the  sheriff  by  the 
judge,  which  commanded  him  to  bring  the  per- 
son arrested  into  court  for  trial. 

This  law  is  regarded  by  all  Englishmen  and 
Americans  as  one  of  the  greatest  protections  to 
their  liberties. 

KING  JAMES   II. 

We  are  now  at  the  threshold  of  what  may 
justly  be  called  the  ^^Glorious  Revolution." 
James,  the  brother  of  Charles  II.,  who  had  sue- 


Charles  II  and  James  II  311 

ceeded  to  the  throne,  was  distrusted  and  feared 
by  the  people.  Once  when  James  was  caution- 
ing his  brother  Charles  to  be  more  careful  and 
not  expose  himself  so  recklessl}^  to  the  danger  of 
assassination,  Charles  laughingly  replied:  ^ ^Nev- 
er fear,  Jamie,  the  English  people  will  never  kill 
me  to  make  you  king."  But  they  afterward 
made  James  king  to  escape  what  they  thought 
would  be  a  greater  evil. 

James  came  to  the  throne  determined  to  re- 
turn with  it  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  He 
declared  that  God  had  appointed  him  to  that 
particular  work,  and  he  entered  upon  the  busi- 
ness with  all  the  reckless  daring  and  courage 
which  his  father  showed  in  his  defense  of  his  di- 
vine right.  He  openly  violated  every  law  of  the 
land  that  stood  between  him  and  his  object,  dis- 
regarding even  the  prayers  of  the  Catholics  and 
the  advice  of  the  Pope  that  he  should  proceed 
with  less  haste  and  more  discretion. 

It  was  not  long  before  all  England  awakened 
to  the  danger  that  threatened  Protestantism, 
and  the  nation  rose  almost  as  one  man  to  the 
defense  of  their  religious  independence. 

Mary,  the  daughter  of  James,  was  the  next 
heir  to  the  throne,  and  she  was  the  wife  of  Prince 
William  of  Orange,  one  of  the  greatest  men  in 
Europe  at  that  time,  and  a  firm  Protestant. 
The  lords  and  gentlemen  and  prominent  men  of 


312  The  Stuart  Kings 

business  all  oyer  England  united  in  an  invitation 
to  William  to  come  and  place  Mary  upon  her 
father^s  throne.  He  hesitated  because  her  fa- 
ther was  the  king,  but  when  he  learned  that 
James  was  plotting  to  take  her  rights  from  her, 
he  came  over  with  a  fleet  and  army.  King 
James  hastened  to  meet  him  in  battle,  but  he 
soon  discovered  that  he  was  deserted  by  even 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  his  army,  who  shouted 
for  William  and  a  free  Parliament.  James,  who 
had  come  three  years  before  to  take  England 
with  him  to  Rome,  now  fled  alone  in  terror  from 
his  country,  and  soon  landed  on  the  shores  of 
France,  a  fugitive  from  his  home  and  kingdom. 
William  and  Mary  were  chosen  to  reign  over 
England  together,  but  to  William  was  given  all 
the  power  that  belonged  to  the  throne.  He  is 
known  in  history  as  William  III.  The  two 
other  Williams  among  the  English  kings  were 
William  the  Conqueror  and  his  son,  William 
Rufus. 

Then  began  the  great  revolution  in  the  English 
government  which  has  made  it  a  government  of 
the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people,  by 
raising  the  House  of  Commons  to  the  supreme 
power  in  the  land. 


Charles  II  and  James  II  313 


SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 
Tell  the  story  of  General  Monk's  part  in  the  restoration  of  the 
monarchy.  When  and  by  what  body  was  Charles  invited  to  the 
throne?  What  was  the  private  character  of  Charles?  What  gave 
him  a  long  lease  of  arbitrary  power  during  the  first  part  of  his  reign? 
What  two  calamities  occurred  during  his  reign?  Why  did  they 
come?  To  what  are  we  indebted  for  "Pilgrim's  Progress"?  For 
what  was  Charles  plotting  during  his  whole  reign?  How  did  he 
hoodwink  the  people?  What  was  his  conspiracy  with  Louis  XIV. 
of  France?  Why  was  the  death  of  Charles  II.  especially  fortunate 
when  it  occurred?  Describe  the  "Habeas  Corpus"  law  passed  during 
his  reign.  How  is  it  regarded  to-day?  Who  succeeded  Charles  II.? 
Tell  the  story  of  his  brief  tyranny. 


XXIX. 

NEW  YORK. 

It  was  ten  years  previous  to  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  at  Plymouth  (1610),  that  the 
Dutch  had  established  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Hudson  river.  They  carried  on  a  profitable 
trade  in  furs  with  the  Indians,  for  many  miles  up 
the  river.  When  Charles  II.  was  king  of  Eng- 
land this  Dutch  colony  had  grown  to  consider- 
able size  and  importance.  It  was  known  as  New 
Netherlands,  and  this  was  its  name  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  In  1653,  when  Charles  I.  was 
in  the  midst  of  his  conflict  with  his  subjects,  a 
small  settlement  of  Dutch  on  Manhattan  Island, 
was  made  into  a  city  by  the  Dutch  governor, 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  took  upon  himself  the 
duty  of  appointing  all  the  officers  and  making 
all  the  laws  for  his  metropolis,  numbering  1,500 
souls.  This  Dutch  city  was  named  New  Am- 
sterdam, after  the  great  commercial  city  in 
Holland. 

England  and  the  Dutch  were  sometimes  at 
war  with  each  other  across  the  water. 

One  day,  in  the  year  1664,  a  fleet  of  English 

314 


New  York  315 

warships  sailed  up  to  the  httle  city  on  the  island 
of  Manhattan  and  demanded  that  it  surrender 
with  all  of  its  belongings  to  the  King  of  England. 
There  was  nothing  for  it  to  do  but  to  obey.  It 
had  no  warships  and  no  army  able  to  oppose  the 
fleet,  and  its  little  fort  was  no  protection.  Charles 
II.  had  given  to  the  Duke  of  York,  his  brother 
James,  all  the  land  claimed  by  the  Dutch  colony, 
which  included  much  of  the  present  state  of  New 
York.  When  the  English  fleet  demanded  posses- 
sion in  the  name  of  the  duke  the  brave  Peter 
Stviyvesant  made  the  best  terms  he  could  with 
the  robbers  and  yielded  up  the  government  of 
the  New  Netherlands  to  the  English.  The  col- 
ony consisted,  by  this  time,  of  three  cities  and 
thirty  villages,  with  a  population  of  ten  thousand 
colonists,  mostly  Dutch. 

The  Enc;lish  conquerors  changed  the  name  of 
New  Amsterdam  to  New  York  in  honor  of  the 
Duke  of  York,  Jrmes;  and  they  changed  the 
name  of  the  fort  to  Fort  James  in  honor  of  James, 
the  Duke  of  York.  They  evidently  wished  to 
honor  both  the  title  and  the  man.  Afterward 
the  entire  territory  of  the  colony  received  the 
name  of  New  York.  Nine  years  passed  when 
the  Dutch  came  one  morning  with  a  fleet  and 
took  it  all  back  again;  but  it  was  restored  to 
England  one  year  later  by  a  treaty  with  Holland, 
and  remained  an  English  colony  for  200  years. 


316  The  Stuart  Kings 

No  one  thought,  at  that  time,  that  the  Uttle  ham- 
let on  Manhattan  Island  would  ever  grow;  into 
the  Greater  New  York  of  to-day. 

When  we  think  that  these  events  occurred  but 
little  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  quarter  ago 
and,  when  we  compare  this  period  with  the  long, 
long  time  it  has  taken  England  to  grow  from  the 
wilderness  of  the  early  Britons  to  its  present 
greatness  and  power,  we  wonder  what  America 
will  be  one  thousand  years  from  now. 

The  story  of  our  English  Grandfathers  shows 
clearly  that  whether  the  greatness  and  power 
of  a  nation  shall  be  a  blessing  or  curse  to  its  own 
people  and  to  the  world,  depends  upon  the  wis- 
dom and  virtue  of  its  people.  The  govern- 
ment of  a  free  people  is  never  better  nor  worse, 
for  long,  than  are  the  people  themselves. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Who  first  settled  in  New  York?  What  was  the  colony  called? 
When  was  it  first  established?  Who  was  the  governor?  When  did 
the  English  take  possession  of  it?  Who  washing  of  England  at  the 
time?  Why  was  the  name  changed  to  New  York?  What  was  the 
population  of  the  colony  at  that  time? 


XXX. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  Friends  formed  one  of  the  religious  sects 
of  dissenters  during  the  troubles  between  the 
English  people  and  their  Stuart  sovereigns. 
They  were  called  ^'Quakers''  in  derision,  because 
of  certain  indications  of  feelings  of  repentance 
that  caused  them  to  shudder  or  shake.  But  the 
Friends  are  now  rather  fond  of  the  name  that 
has  so  much  of  that  which  is  peaceable  and  gen- 
tle associated  with  it.  The  founder  of  the  sect 
was  a  great  preacher  by  the  name  of  Fox. 

William  Penn,  wliose  father  was  a  wealthy 
English  gentleman,  and  an  admiral  in  the  Eng- 
lish nsLvy,  wa<  converted  to  the  Friends'  religion 
by  the  preaching  of  Fox.  His  father  cast  him 
off  for  a  time,  but  later  restored  him  to  favor, 
and  said  to  him  as  he  was  dying :  ^^Son  William, 
if  you  and  your  friends  keep  to  your  plain  way 
of  preaching  and  living,  you  will  make  an  end  of 
the  priests. '^ 

Admiral  Penn  was  a  favorite  of  King  Charles 
II.  and  his  son  Wilham  succeeded  to  that  re- 
gard. 

317 


318  The  Stuart  Kings 

These  things  will  explain  how  it  was  that  such 
bold  dissenters  as  the  Quakers  were  treated  so 
kindly  in  America  by  the  Stuarts. 

The  crown  owed  WiUiam  $80,000,  an  old  debt 
due  his  father.  William  proposed  to  take  his 
pay  in  American  land.  So  the  king  made  a 
grant  to  l>im  of  the  26,000,000  acres  that  are  now 
the  territory  of  Pennsylvania. 

■  William  then  called  together  all  the  Indian 
chiel^  who  claimed  the  land  as  their  hunting 
ground  and  paid  them,  also,  for  their  claims  on 
so  much  of  the  land  as  he  wished  to  use  for  his 
ciolonyv  ;  They  all  agreed  in  writing  to  live  in 
peace!  with  one  another.  The  homes  of  the  col- 
onists were  to  be  open  to  the  friendly  visits  of  the 
Indians,  and  the  wigwams  of  the  Indians  were  to 
welcome  the  white  men.  There  was  no  sealing, 
and  no  oath  taking,  nor  any  ceremony  whatever 
connected  with  the  making  of  this  agreement, 
but  it  was  more  carefully  kept,  and  for  a  longer 
tiraje,  than  were.tl^se  of  other  colonies  that  made 
so  mi|p^>*  ado  about  signing  and  sealing  and  swear- 
ing to  keep  the  contracts  made  between  them 
and  the  Indians.  Kindness  and  fair  dealin;^ 
were  found  to  win  more  than  seals  and  oaths. 
.William  laid  out  a  city  containing  twelve 
square  miles  and  called  it  Philadelphia,  which 
means  ^ ^brotherly  love.^'  He  was  opposed  to  the 
name   ^Tennsylvania/^   which   means   ^Tenn's 


Pejinsylvania  319 

Woods/ ^  for  his  colony,  but  King  Charles  insisted 
that  it  should  be  so  named  in  honor  of  William's 
father.  William  feared  that  the  people  would 
accuse  him  of  wishing  to  honor  himself  by  giving 
that  name.  He  wished  to  call  it  ^^New  Wales/' 
because  of  the  mountains. 

Peace  and  prosperity  attended  this  Quaker 
colony  for  many  years.  These  people  did  not 
believe  in  fighting  but  they  did  believe  in  in- 
dustry, economy,  and  in  doing  good. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

Tell  the  story  of  William  Peim.  In  what  reign  did  he  purchase 
Pennsylvania?  From  whom  was  Pennsylvania  named?  What  did 
William  Penn  wish  to  call  it?  How  did  Penn  treat  the  Indians? 
What  city  did  he  found?  How  large  did  he  make  it?  Compare 
the  relations  of  the  Indians  with  the  Quakerg;  with  those  of  the  other 
colonies.    Why  the  difference? 


XXXT. 

WILLIAM  III. 

1689—1702. 

We  have  now  come  to  the  time  (1688)  in  the 
story  of  our  EngHsh  grandfathers  when  greater 
things  were  done  for  the  civil  and  rehgious  free- 
dom of  all  Englishmen  than  ever  before.  Kings 
were  to  rule  no  longer  by  right  of  birth,  nor  by 
what  they  claimed  as  their  divine  right;  but  by 
right  of  law  of  Parliament,  solely.  During  the 
reign  of  William  III.  Parliament  passed  a  law  by 
which  the  sovereigns  have  ever  since  been  chosen. 
Should  the  English  people  wish  to  change  this 
law,  or  to  abolish  the  office  of  king  altogether,  it 
is  now  believed  that  their  representatives  would 
have  the  power  to  do  this.  In  William's  reign 
laws  were  enacted  that  really  transferred  all  rul- 
ing power  to  representatives  chosen  by  the  people 
at  free  elections.  The  king's  prerogative  has 
been  limited  ever  since  to  the  will  of  the  voters; 
which  is  the  same  as  saying  that  no  prerogative 
exists.  A  prerogative  is  a  personal  arbitrary 
right  of  the  ruler  with  which  the  people  cannot 
interfere. 


William  III 


321 


Who  was  this  WilHam  III.  whose  reign  did  so 
much  for  England,  and  for  America  as  well? 

He  was  a  Dutchman  of  Anglo-Saxon  descent. 
His  father  was  a  Dutch  prince,  known  as  the 
Prince  of   Orange,    sometimes   called   William 


WILLIAM  III. 


the  Silent.  Holland  was  a  republic  and  Prince 
William's  father  was  too  much  of  a  king  and  at 
the  same  time  too  much  of  a  democrat  to 
please  the  Dutch  aristocracy  who  controlled 
the   government.     When   William   III.   was   a 


322  :  The  Stuart  Kings 

small  boy  his  father  died,  and  he  was  brought 
up  among  those  who  would  not  have  mourned 
if  he,  too,  had  died.  '^His  words  were  watched, 
his  looks  observed,  and  his  friends  jealously 
withdrawn.  In  such  an  atmosphere  the  boy 
grew  up  silent,  wary,  self-contained,  grave  in 
temper,  cold  in  manner,  blunt  and  even  repul- 
sive in  address.^^  Add  to  all  this  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  child  of  delicate  health  from  his  cradle, 
and  that  ^  ^manhood  brought  with  it  asthma 
and  consumption  ]  that  shook  his  frame  with 
constant  cough,  ^V  tod  there  is  little  wonder  that 
his  face  had  a  forbidding  and  bloodless  appear- 
ance, and  was  seamed  with  deep  lines,  '^that 
told  of  ceaseless  pain.'^  These  afflictions  were 
the  chief  cause  of '  his  personal  unpopularity 
with  the  English  people.  They  loved  ''Bluff 
King  HaP'  and  the /'Merry  Monarch'^  more 
than  the  serious,  straightforward  William. 

And  William  had  little  personal  affection 
for  the  English.  His  first  and  fondest  love  was 
for  Holland,  his  fatherland,  which  was  beset 
on  every  side  by  enemies.  The  most  powerful 
of  these  was  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  who,  as  you 
have  learned,  had  secretly  conspired  with 
Charles  and  James  to  drive  protestantism  out  of 
Europe.  William's  only  hope  of  saving  his 
country  was  through  aid  from  protestant  Eng- 
land.    This  the  English  kings  had  determined 


William  III  '        323 

he  should  not  have.  Parhament  and  the  Eng- 
Ush  protestants  had  continued  to  urge  upon 
their  sovereigns,  but  with  no  success,  that-  the 
safety  of  the  nation  depended  upon  the  success 
of  William.  If  protestant  Holland  was  made 
subject  to  France  they  feared  that  protestant 
England  would  be  the  next  victim.  We  know 
now,  what  the  English  people  did  not  know 
then,  that  their  own  sovereigns  were  plotting 
to  drive  out  of  England  the  protestant  religion 
and  constitutional  liberty. 

What  claims  by  birthright  had  William  to  the 
throne  of  England? 

None  whatever.  His  mother  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  I.,  it  is  tme,  but  his  wife,  Mary, 
and  Princess  Anne  were  the  daughters  of  James 
II.  The  children  of  James  II.  were  nearer  to 
the  throne.  Mary  was  the  older  of  the  two  sisters, 
which  made  her  heir-apparent.  When  James  II. 
abdicated  by  running  away,  Mary  had  the  first 
right  to  succeed  him.  But  William  refused  to  go 
to  England  as  the  ^'gentleman  usher ^^  of  the 
Queen,  and  Mary  refused  to  be  queen  unless  her 
husband  was  chosen  king.  The  matter  was  final- 
ly settled  by  giving  the  throne  to  both  of  them, 
with  the  title  of  ^^King  and  Queen  of  England. 
Ireland  and  Scotland,^'  and  giving  all  the  power 
to  William.  This  settlement  took  place  in 
1869. 


324  The  Stuart  Kings 

When  James  fled  to  Paris  it  was  with  the 
intention  of  bringing  a  large  army  of  French 
soldiers  into  England  and  of  compelling  his  sub- 
jects to  submit  to  his  rule.  But  he  seemed  to 
be  utterly  incapable  of  doing  anything  in  an 
effective  way.  Louis  gave  him  two  fleets  and 
some  soldiers  but  they  accomplished  nothing, 
and  Louis  XIV.  was  finally  compelled  to  acknowl- 
edge William  as  king. 

GOVERNMENT   BY   PARTIES. 

You  know  that  in  the  United  States  there  are 
always  two  great  political  parties.  The  party 
that  can  command  the  most  votes  governs  the, 
country. 

It  will  interest  you  to  know  that  before  the 
reign  of  William  III.  government  by  party  was 
unknown.  There  were  too  many  parties  and 
the  king  had  too  much  personal  power.  Now, 
for  the  first  time,  two  great  parties  arose  which 
came  to  be  known  as  Whigs  and  Tories.  Both 
of  these  names  were  first  used  as  words  of  con- 
tempt. The  original  Toiy  was  a  wretched 
outlaw  hiding  in  the  bogs  of  Ireland.  The 
original  Whig  was  a  Scotch  covenanter  of  the 
lowest  order  of  intelligence  and  mode  of  life. 
Neither  name  had  any  meaning  as  applied  to 
these  political  parties.  We  may  conclude  from 
these  vulgar  epithets   that   party  rancor  and 


William  III  325 

calling   each   other   low   names    began   at    the 
beginning  of  party  rule. 

The  Tories  included  those  who  stood  for  the 
old  ideas  of  divine  right,  the  king^s  prerogative, 
and  the  like,  and  the  Whigs  favored  a  move- 
ment toward  a  more  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

IMPORTANT   REFORMS. 

When  William  became  king  he  joined  with 
Mary  in  a  solenm  promise  that  they  would  not 
disobey  the  laws,  nor  raise  money  without  the 
consent  of  Parliament,  nor  keep  up  a  standing 
army,  nor  violate  the  Great  Charter  in  any 
other  way.  The  Petition  of  Rights,  which  had 
been  so  vigorously  insisted  upon  by  Parliament 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  now  became  the  law 
of  the  land  by  joint  action  of  king  and  Parlia- 
ment. It  had  really  been  the  law  ever  since 
the  time  of  King  John,  but  the  kings  had  seldom 
respected  it.  They  declared  that  their  prero- 
gative was  superior  to  all  charters  and  to  all 
laws  passed  by  the  people's  representatives. 

Another  important  law  was  enacted  during 
this  reign.  This  was  that  the  king  could  only  act 
in  accordance  with  the  advice  of  his  minister. 
It  required  that  the  chief  minister,  as  well  as 
the  king,  should  sign  all  orders  issued  by  the 
king.     This  made  the  minister  directly  respon- 


326  The  Stuart  Kings 

sible  for  all  the  acts  of  the  king.  The  king 
could  not  act  without  him.  This  has  been  the 
law  of  England  ever  since.  (See  close  of 
chapter  XXVIII.) 

These  agreements  between  king  and  Par- 
liament did  not  make  peace  in  the  land.  The 
Whig  Parliament  was  opposed  by  the  Tories, 
and  there  were  many  friends  of  James  in  the 
kingdom,  especially  in  Ireland  and  Scotland, 
who  were  working  for  his  restoration.  When 
James  ran  away  to  France  the  government  of 
Ireland  was  in  the  hands  of  his  friends.  The 
general  of  the  Irish  forces  was  Tyrconnel,  a 
violent  enemy  of  protestantism  and  of  the 
English.  Nearly  all  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Ireland  were  catholics,  and  they  had  a  large 
army  that  was  in  favor  of  the  restoration  of 
King  James.  So  James  came  over  from  France 
with  some  French  soldiers  and  took  command 
of  this  army  with  the  intention  of  joining  with 
the  catholic  forces  in  Scotland  and  northern, 
England  in   a  war  against  William. 

William  led  the  English  army  into  Ireland 
where  James  brought  on  his  forces  to  meet  him. 
After  a  hard  struggle  William  was  everywhere 
victorious,  but  while  he  was  subduing  his  ene- 
mies in  Ireland,  the  French  were  defeating  his 
fleet  in  the  channel.  The  English  admiral  had 
turned  traitor  and  withdrawn  his  forces,  leaving 


William  111  327 

but  a  few  Dutch  vessels  to  meet  the  enemy. 
The  French  had  no  army  at  hand  with  which  to 
follow  up  the  success  of  their  fleet,  and  before 
one  could  be  brought  over  William  had  returned 
to  England  after  having  put  to  rout  James 
and  his  Irish  forces. 

The  acts  of  James  and  his  threats  against  the 
supporters  of  protestantism  disgusted  many  of 
his  most  influential  friends.  A  second  battle 
between  the  French  fleet  and  the  combined  fleets 
of  the  English  and  Dutch  resulted  in  the  over- 
throw of  the  French. 

Then  France  gave  over  her  efforts  to  drive 
William  from  the  English  throne. 

Wh}^  was  it  that  France,  then  the  most  pow- 
erful nation  in  the  world,  was  so  persistent  in  her 
warfare  against  William? 

It  was  because  William  was  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  the  protestants  of  Europe  and  had 
come  to  be  regarded  by  European  nations  as  the 
greatest  statesman  on  the  continent.  With  the 
overthrow  of  William,  Louis  XIV.  believed  that 
the  protestant  people  would  be  compelled  to 
acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  Catholic 
church.  The  great  statesmanship  of  William 
was  able  finally  to  unite  all  the  protestants  of 
Europe  and  England  and,  also,  the  emperor  of 
Germany  against  France,  and  then  Protestant- 
ism was  saved. 


328  The  Stuart  Kings 

The  active  and  fiery  soul  of  William  had 
burned  up  the  delicate  constitution  with  which 
he  had  been  born,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
leave  to  the  able  Duke  of  Marlborough  the  prose- 
cution of  the  war  that  was  to  establish  forever 
the  right  of  the  protestant  religion  to  life  and 
liberty  upon  this  planet. 

The  final  battle  between  the  opposing  armies 
took  place  at  Blenheim  in  1704,  two  years  after 
the  death  of  William,  in  which  the  forces  led  by 
the  French  were  nearly  all  killed  or  taken  pris- 
oners, and  Louis  XIV.  fell  in  a  few  hours  from 
the  autocrat  of  the  destinies  of  Europe,  to  the 
common  level  of  the  other  rulers. 

The  man  who  had  worked  for  this  all  his  life, 
who  was  a  great  soldier  and  yet  generally  un- 
successful in  battle,  who  turned  every  defeat  into 
a  victory  for  his  cause,  who  by  the  force  of  his 
intellect  and  character  could  win  those  to  its 
support  who  were  repelled  by  his  unattractive 
personality,  who  patiently  and  persistentl}^  plot- 
ted and  planned  for  more  than  thirty  years  to 
preserve  the  liberties  of  his  beloved  fatherland, 
was  William  III.  of  England.  His  heart  was 
not  in  England.  He  ascended  the  throne  that 
he  might  maintain  the  right  of  protestants  all 
over  Europe  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.     In  working  for  this  end  he  worked 


William  III  329 

mightily  for  the  liberty  and  future  glory  of  the 
EngUsh  people.  He  was '  disliked  and  often  in- 
sulted by  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  and 
was  more  than  once  on  the  verge  of  resigning 
his  crown  in  despair  of  ever  doing  any  service 
worthy  of  a  king  for  a  people  who  so  misunder- 
stood him  and  whom  he  did  not  understand. 
William  would  not  have  been  so  unpopular 
among  the  middle  class  of  Englishmen  if  they 
had  known  him  better.  But  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  there  was  no  daily  press  in  those  days, 
and  that  the  only  information  the  people  re- 
ceived came  to  them  through  pamphlets  written 
by  pei'sons,  some  of  whom  favored  one  notion 
and  others,  another.  So  it  was  that  they  got 
only  partial  and  onesided  views  of  public  mat- 
ters. Many  of  the  writers  of  these  pamphlets 
belonged  to  the  ^^ smart  set"  who  hung  about 
the  royal  court  and  who  cared  more  for  pleasure 
and  merry  society  than  for  the  liberty  of  their 
coTmtr}^  These  did  not  like  William,  who  was 
too  serious  minded  to  care  for  such  things,  and 
who  enjoyed  the  society  of  his  Dutch  generals 
more  than  that  of  a  brilliant  court. 

But  William  was  no  sooner  laid  to  rest  among 
the  great  in  the  burial  ground  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  than  the  veil  fell  from  the  eyes  of 
the    English    people    and    they   saw    in   their 


330  The  Stuart  Kinq^ 

king  one  of  the  greatest  of  English  sovereigns. 
He  died  in  1702,  thirteen  years  after  he  as- 
cended the  throne. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS.  .  . 

Who  was  William  III.?  Why  is  the  reign  of  William  III.  nota- 
ble? Tell  of  the  early  Hfe  of  William.  Why  was  he  not  personally 
■popular  with  the  English?  For  what  reason  did  he  accept  the  Eng- 
lish throne?  By  what  right  did  he  become  king?  What  was  done 
for  the  civil  and  religious  freedom  of  the  people  during  his  reign? 
When  did  government  by  parties  begin?  What  names  were  given 
to  them?  What  reforms  did  William  pi*omise?  Did  he  do  what  he 
promised?  Tell  of  William's  struggle  with  the  Irish  army  and  with 
the  French.  Why  was  France  so  hostile  to  William?  Where  did  the 
great  battle  for  Protestantism  in  Europe  take  place?  How  long 
after  William's  death?  Who  were  the  Protestant  generals?  When 
did  William  die?  What  was  England's  estimate  of  him  after  he  was 
dead? 


THE  HANOVERIAN  KINGS. 

1714- 


XXXII. 

A  SHORT  STORY  OF  THREE  REIGNS. 

1702  —  1760. 

When  William  III.  died  Princess  Anne,  the 
sister  of  Mary,  became  Queen.  Very  little  that 
is  of  any  interest  or  of  historical  value  can  be  said 
of  her.  She  had  scarcely  more  intellect  or 
character  than  her  father,  James  II.  The  in- 
teresting person  in  her  reign  was  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough  who  won  the  battle  of  Blenheim 
and  was  a  good  statesman  as  well  as  a  great  gen- 
eral. He  was  the  man,  and  probably  the  only 
man  in  England,  who  could  take  the  place  of 
William  III.,  and  execute  what  William  had  so 
ably  planned.  He  should  be  remembered  as 
the  great  defender,  on  more  than  one  battle-field, 
of  protestantism  in  this  its  final  struggle  for  life 
and  liberty.  Our  own  religious  and  political 
freedom  is  much  indebted  to  this  great  captain. 

331 


332  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

But  Anne  was  a  Tory,  and  the  Tories  were  op- 
posed to  the  ^'  Whig  War ''  which  had  given  Duke 
Marlborough  such  renown.  The  Tories  were  now 
in  power  in  Parhament,  and  so  Marlborough  was 
removed  from  his  office  and  appeared  no  more 
upon  the  political  stage.  We  might  wish  of  him, 
as  we  do  of  William  the  Conquerer,  that,  being 
so  great  a  general  and  so  able  a  statesman  he  had 
also  been  a  nobler  man.  In  his  private  life  he 
seems  to  have  been  ever  honest,  biit  he  was 
not  always  loyal. 

The  one  really  important  thing  in  Anne's  reign 
was  the  imion  of  the  Parliaments  of  England  and 
Scotland  into  one  government.  Scotland  had 
had  a  separate  Parliament  until  then. 

After  the  death  of  Anne,  English  history  for 
more  than  fifty  years  has  little  to  say  of  the  Eng- 
lish kings.  The  Wliig  party  ruled  the  nation, 
and  a  country  squire  named  Walpole  ruled  tlie 
Whig  party  for  twenty  years.  Walpole  was 
prime  minister  when  the  new  Dutch  king  came 
in,  and  from  the  first  the  minister  ruled  the  king. 

The  new  king  was  George  I.,  who  was  ^^ac 
stuffy  an  old  drone''  from  the  Dutch  hive  as  was 
ever  seated  upon  a  throne.  His  son  George  II. 
was  another  of  the  same  kind  and  Walpole  was 
virtually  king  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
Happy  it  was  for  England  that  Walpole  believed 
in  the  plan  of  government  as  Wilham  had  left  it, 


A  Short  Story  of  Three  Reigns  333^ 

and  believed  also  in  peace  with  other  nations. 
He  said  of  himself  that  he  was  no  reformer. 
He  proposed  nothing  new  in  government  but 
held  firmly  to  a  constitutional  monarchy  in 
which  the  sovereign  was  obedient  to  the  will  of 
the  people  as  expressed  by  the  ministers  and  by 
a  Parliament. 

Before  the  fifty  years  of  the  rule  of  the  first 
two  Georges  had  passed,  Englishmen  had  for- 
gotten that  it  was  possible  for  the  ruler  to  perse- 
cute the  people  for  differences  of  religion,  or  to 
destroy  the  liberty  of  the  press,  or  to  inter- 
fere with  the  Courts  of  Justice,  or  to  rule  without 
regular  sessions  of  Parliament. 

Walpole  did  much  to  promote  trade  and  com- 
merce throughout  England,  and  the  wealth  of 
the  people  increased  greatly  during  this  ministry. 
Nor  did  he  overlook  our  American  grandfathers. 
The  former  rulers  had  made  it  unlawful  for 
Americans  to  trade  with  other  countries  than 
England,  and  the  English  merchants  would  not 
pay  them  so  much  for  their  tobacco,  their  furs, 
their  rice,  and  other  products  as  they  could  get 
elsewhere.  Walpole  had  many  of  these  restric- 
tions removed  and  permitted  them  to  sell  where 
they  could  get  the  best  price,  and  to  buy  where 
they  could  buy  cheapest. 

So  our  forefathers  in  America  grew  rich  and 
prospered  along  with  our  grandfathers  in  Eng- 


334  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

land.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Walpole's  interces- 
sion one  can  hardly  see  how  America  could  have 
grown  rich  enough  to  resist  successfully  the 
tyranny  of  George  III. 

In  order  that  you  may  understand  better  how 
George  III.  could  work  so  much  mischief  when, 
for  fifty  years,  his  predecessors  had  been  so 
powerless,  you  need  to  know  some  of  the  faults 
of  Walpole. 

He  was  the  first  minister  of  England  to  bribe 
the  members  of  Parliament  to  support  him, 
when  he  could  not  win  their  votes  in  any  other 
way.  Charles  II.  began  this  bad  business,  and 
Walpole  carried  it  on  to  an  extent  never  known 
before. 

The  population  of  England  had  grown  to 
8,000,000  by  the  end  of  the  reign  of  George  II., 
and  yet  the  number  of  voters  in  the  kingdom 
was  only  160,000.  This  means  that  there  was 
only  one  voter  for  every  fifty  inhabitants.  In- 
deed many  large  cities  and  towns  and  other  pop- 
ulous communities  had  no  representative  in 
Parliament.  In  a  large  number  of  cases  a  little 
hamlet,  called  a  ^^  rotten  borough  or  pocket 
borough, '^  containing  from  ten  to  twenty-five 
voters,  had  the  right  to  elect  one  and  sometimes 
two  members  to  the  House  of  Commons.  This 
hamlet  belonged  to  a  wealthy  land  owner,  per- 
haps, and  the  voters  must  elect  whom  he  ordered. 


A  Short  Story  of  Three  Reigns  335 

When  a  great  land  holder  owned  a  dozen  such 
hamlets,  or  boroughs,  he  would  have  a  score  of 
members  of  Parliament  to  sell  to  the  highest 
bidder.  Walpole  would  buy  them  if  he  needed 
them.  There  were  deserted  boroughs  in  which 
there  was  not  a  single  householder,  that  still 
continued  to  send  a  representative.  When  you 
read  the  story  of  ^'John  Halifax — Gentleman/^ 
by  Miss  Mulock,  you  will  learn  how  these  "  rotten 
borough"  elections  were  conducted.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  George  III.,  $125,000 
were  paid  out  by  the  prime  minister  in  a  single 
day  to  buy  up  these  representatives  of  the  people, 
who  were  ordered  to  vote  as  the  minister 
directed. 

William  Pitt  is  a  name  familiar  to  Americans 
and  more  beloved  than  that  of  any  other  Eng- 
lishman of  his  time.  He  came  to  be  known  in 
England  as  the  ''Great  Commoner.'^  He  be- 
longed to  an  old  English  family  that  had  been 
poor  and  obscure  until  William^s  grandfather 
brought  home  from  the  Indies  a  large  diamond 
which  he  sold  for  $675,000.  This  was  a  g»eat 
fortune  at   that  time. 

William  was  well  educated,  first  at  the  great 
public  school  of  Eton,  and  afterward  at  Oxford 
College.  He  went  into  Parliament,  when  a  very 
young  man,  from  a  ''rotten  borough"  that  be- 
longed to  his  family.     He  very  soon  took  a  high 


336 


The  Hanoverian  Kings 


place  as  a  strong  debater  and  a  great  orator.  He 
joined  the  opposition  to  Walpole  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  made  the  hall  ring  with  his  elo- 
quence in  many  a  sharp  debate.  We  know  very 
little  of  what  he  said,  for  no  reporters  were  ad- 


WILLIAM  PITT. 


mitted  to  the  house,  but  we  know  of  his  influence 
upon  the  politicians  and  upon  the  people. 

There  is  a  well-known  extract  from  one  of  his 
speeches  in  reply  to  Walpole,  which  the  school  boys 
in  America  have  declaimed  for  three  generations. 
It  begins  with  ^'Tbe  heinous  crime  of  being  a 


A  Short  Story  of  Three  Reigns  337 

young  man  which  the  gentleman  (Walpole)  has 
with  such  spirit  and  decency  charged  upon  me 
I  shall  neither  attempt  to  palliate  nor  deny,  but 
content  myself  with  hoping  that  I  may  be  of 
that  number  whose  follies  cease  with  their  youth 
and  not  of  those  who  aie  ignorant  in  spite  of 
experience/'  (meaning  Walpole  who  had  little 
learning).  It  is  a  very  stirring  speech,  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Pitt  ever  said  those  words. 
The  great  Dr.  Johnson,  the  author  of  the  first 
Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  was  then 
writing  for  the  public  press  his  reports  of  the 
great  speeches  in  the  House  as  they  were  re- 
ported to  him  by  some  of  the  members.  Some 
of  these  papers,  he  confessed  afterward,  he  wrote 
without  receiving  any  report  whatever.  This 
speech  of  Pitt's  may  have  been  one  thkt  Dr. 
Johnson  thought  Pitt  might  have  made,  or  ought 
to  have  made. 

It  was  Pitt's  attacks  upon  the  administration 
of  AValpole  that  finally  drove  the  latter  from 
office,  and  it  was  not  long  afterward  that  Pitt 
was  appointed  to  his  place 

When  he  had  become  the  ruling  power  he 
accomplished  great  things  for  England — greater 
far  than  had  ever  been  done  by  any  statesman 
before,  and  perhaps  greater  than  any  one  man 
has  ever  accomplished  since. 


33$  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

It  was  Pitt  that  planned  the  large  movements 
that  achieved  such  glorious  success  in  the  four 
quarters  of  the  globe,  between  1757  and  1761, 
and  it  was  he  that  choose  the  men  to  execute 
them.  The  story  of  the  life  of  Pitt  during  these 
four  years  is  the  history  of  England's  achieve- 
ments during  that  period. 

Americans  love  Pitt  for  his  able  defense  of 
their  rights  when  the  king  (for  George  III.,  was 
king  in  fact  and  not  merely  in  name)  sought  to 
impose  taxes  upon  our  American  grandfathers 
without  giving  them  any  voice  in  making  the 
laws  by  which  they  were  taxed.  They  always 
remember  his  impassioned  declaration:  ''If  I 
were  an  American  as  I  am  an  Englishman, 
while  a  foreign  foe  was  landed  in  my  country  I 
never -would  lay  down  my  arms — never,  never, 
never.''  Probably  no  one  but  the  Great  Com- 
moner would  have  been  permitted  to  make  such 
a  speech  at  that  time  without  being  sent  to  the 
Tower  for  it* 

Pitt  was  made  Earl  of  Chatham,  by  which  he 
became  a  lord,  and  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  but  he  always  stood  firmly  for  the  con- 
stitutional liberty  of  Englishmen  against  the 
tyranny  of  King  or  Parliament. 

Chatham,  like  William  HI.,  suffered  all  his  life 
with  a  painful  disease  which  often  kept  him  out 
of  the  councils  of  his  nation  for  months  at  a 


A  Short  Story  of  Three  Reigns  339 

time,  and  sometimes  for  years.  The  Great  Com- 
moner was  born  in  1708  and  died  in  1778. 
He  entered  Parliament  in  1735,  being  then 
twenty-seven  years  old.  He  was  in  the  service 
of  England  for  forty-three  years.  We  shall 
learn  more  about  him  in  the  story  of  George  III. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

What  important  union  occurred  during  Queen  Anne's  reign? 
Who  succeeded  Anne?  Who  was  the  chief  ruler  of  England  during 
the  reign  of  George  I.?  What  were  Walpole's  good  quaUties  as  a 
minister?  What  were  his  bad  ones?  How  many  people  cast  all  the 
votes  .for  members  of  Parliament  when  there  were  8,000,000  inhabi- 
tants? What  Avas  a  rotten  borough?  Who  was  the  first 
William  Pitt?  At  what  age  did  he  enter  Parliament?  Why  called 
the  Great  Commoner?  What  did  he  do  for  England?  Why  did  the 
Americans  love  Pitt? 


xxxrci. 

GEORGE  III. 

1760—1820. 

King  George  III.  was  the  grandson  of  George 
II.  His  father,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  had  died 
while  George  II.  was  still  on  the  throne.  His 
mother,  the  Princess  of  Wales,  was  a  very  am- 
bitious woman,  who  thought  her  son^s  grand- 
father and  great-grandfather  had  been  serv- 
ants of  their  ministers  rather  than  kings  of 
England.  From  his  cradle  to  manhood  she 
was  repeatedly  saying  to  her  son,  ^^  George, 
George,  be  king!"  He  was  the  most  unedu- 
cated of  all  the  kings  of  England,  but  he  learned 
well  the  simple  lesson  set  him  by  his  mother. 

He  came  to  the  throne  in  1760,  sixteen  years 
before  our  American  grandfathers  decided  that 
they  would  live  no  longer  as  members  of  his 
family.  These  grandfathers  loved  their  broth- 
eis  and  sisters  in  England  well  enough  and  could 
have  lived  as  happily  with  them  as  they  had 
done  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  but  the 

340 


George  III  341 

head  of  the  family  had  determined  to  ^'be  king^^ 
in  the  same  sense  in  which  Charles  I.  determined 
to  be  king.  Charles  lost  his  head;  George  lost 
the  most  promising  and  vigorous  member  of 
the  English  family. 

In  his  private  life  George  III.  was  a  model  of 
good  behavior.  A  charming  writer  of  that  time, 
who  knew  the  family  well,  has  painted  in  her 
books  a  beautiful  picture  of  the  home  life  of  the 
royal  household.  But  in  public  life  George  was 
ambitious  to  ^'be  king"  in  the  narrow  sense  that 
made  his  wishes  the  law  of  the  land.  Any 
councilor  who  did  not  agree  with  him  he  held  to 
be  his  personal  enemy.  He  could  brook  no 
differences  of  opinion  between  himself  and  mem- 
bers of  his  cabinet  or  parliament.  This  made 
his  path  a  thorny  one  and  finally  reduced  Eng- 
land again  to  an  inferior  place  among  the  na- 
tions of  Europe.  Much  that  his  ministers  had 
gained  George  lost,  for  George  was  no  statesman. 

The  king  managed  to  get  rid  of  most  of  the 
able  members  of  his  cabinet,  .  and  appointed 
narrow  minded  men  like  himself  in  their  places 
who  had  no  opinion  but  the  king's.  He  built  up 
a  little  party  known  as  "The  King's  Friends'' 
that  advocated  whatever  he  wished.  Pitt  was 
still  alive  but  George  did  not  like  ministers  who 
were  stronger  than  he.  He  made  Pitt  a  lord, 
and  this  took  him  out  of  the  House  of  Commons. 


342  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

The  people  did  not  like  this.  They  thought 
the  Great  Commoner  had  deserted  their  inter- 
ests for  his  personal  advancement  to  a  higher 
social  rank.  He  was  greater  than  any  English 
lord.  His  acceptance  of  the  title  of  ^^Lord 
Chatham'^  reduced  him,  in  their  opinion,  to  the 
level  of  the  other  lords. 

But  Lord  Chatham  always  remained  plain 
William  Pitt  in  all  matters  that  concerned  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  English  people. 

During  the  fifty  years  after  Queen  Anne  the 
American  colonies  had  prospered  greatly.  They 
had  acquired  large  wealth  and  a  republican 
form  of  government  had  become  established. 
Representatives  chosen  by  the  people  made  the 
local  laws  by  which  the  colonies  were  governed 
and  declared  what  taxes  the  people  should  pay. 
The  spirit  of  freedom  had  grow^n  in  the  land. 

Now  England  had  large  debts  to  pay.  Pittas 
great  military  successes  on  the  sea,  in  Europe, 
in  India,  and  in  Canada,  added  much  to  the 
glory  of  England  but  they  had  cost  an  immense 
sum  of  money; — more  than  England  had  in  her 
treasury.  The  king  said:  ^'Let  America  pay 
part  of  this.  The  French  and  Indian  war  was 
fought  for  their  protection.  Let  them  pay  part 
of  the  expense.  We  will  make  a  law  that  shall 
require  them  to  pay  for  stamps  which  they 
must  put  upon  all  their  deeds,  their  mortgages 


George  lit  343 

and  other  contracts,  their  bank  checks,  and  the 
Uke,  to  make  them  legal. ^^  It  was  done.  But 
our  colonial  grandfathers  said  ^'No!''  very  em- 
phatically. "We  are  willing/^  they  said,  "to 
contribute  our  share  toward  the  payment  of  this 
debt,  but  you  have  no  right  to  tax  us  until  we 
are  permitted  to  send  representatives  to  the 
English  Parliament.  Taxation  without  repre- 
sentation is  a  violation  of  our  constitutional 
rights  as  Englishmen.'^  Lord  Chatham,  and  Mr. 
Burke,  and  all  Englishmen  that  cared  much  for 
their  constitutional  rights  agreed  with  them. 

But  King  George  and  "his  friends"  said:  "We 
are  asking  no  more  of  the  Englishmen  in  America 
than  we  demand  of  Englishmen  in  England. 
Most  of  the  people  in  England  are  taxed  without 
having  any  direct  voice  in  sending  lepresenta- 
tives  to  Parliament:  more  in  numbers  than  all 
the  people  in  the  American  colonies.  Large 
cities  and  towns  in  many  parts  of  England  have 
no  vote  for  members  of  Parliament.  But  those 
who  are  sent  are  considered  representatives  of 
all  Englishmen  whether  they  vote  or  not.  In 
this  indirect  way  the  ^Ajnerican  colonies  arc 
already  represented  in  Parliament.'^ 

But  our  colonial  grandfathers  declared  that  ii 
Englishmen  in  England  chose  to  permit  their 
constitutional  rights  to  be  disregarded  that  was 
their  business.     "As  for  us  we  will  not  permit 


344  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

it/^  And  they  said  this  in  so  loud  a  voice 
that  it  was  heard  across  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and 
King  George  finally  consented  to  the  repeal  of 
the  Stamp  Act,  though  much  against  his  will. 
Even  some  of  '^  The  King's  Friends  "  insisted  that 
he  must  yield  in  this  matter.  Our  colonial 
grandfathers  expressed  their  joy  by  speeches, 
and  the  blowing  of  trumpets,  by  fife  and  drum, 
bonfires,  and  cannon  shots,  and  in  a  great  burst 
of  loyalty  that  flowed  over  the  land. 

But  a  little  later  King  George  and  his  friends 
concluded  that  they  had  been  too  soft  with  the 
colonists;  that  if  the}^  had  sent  a  couple  of  regi- 
ments of  British  soldiers  to  enforce  the  Stamp 
Act  the  spirit  of  rebellion  would  have  been 
quelled.  "They  are  only  a  set  of  ignorant  rag- 
a-muffins  anyway.'^  (These  were  not  precisely 
the  words  that  our  American  grandfathers  and 
the  king  used  in  this  controversy,  but  what  they 
actually  said  to  each  othei  amounted  to  this 
in  substance.) 

The  colonists  had  settled  down  into  good  loyal 
subjects  after  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and 
were  willing  and  ready  to  do  their  part  when 
they  had  any  part  in  what  was  done.  But  it 
was  not  long  until  the  king  and  "his  friends ^^ 
again  determined  to  tax  the  colonies.  They 
made  a  law  that  required  them  to  pay  a  duty  on 
the  tea  that  was  imported  into  their  country. 


George  III 


345 


This  tea  was  all  brought  in  by  the  English  mer- 
chants. The  colonies  were  not  permitted  to 
import  it  for  themselves. 

Soon  a  vessel  loaded  with  tea  came  into 
Boston  harbor.  Then  it  was  that  the  people 
of  Boston  held  a  great  meeting.  Samuel  Adams 
was    there.      The    people    considered    Samuel 


THE   BOSTON  TEA  PARTY. 

Adams  as  a  wise  and  safe  leader,  and  they  un- 
derstood him  to  say  at  this  meeting  that  these 
caddies  of  tea  ought  not  to  be  landed  on  Boston 
soil.  It  happened  a  few  hours  afterward  that 
a  band  of  Indians  in  their  war  paint,  feathers, 
and  war   dress   took   possession   of   this   ship, 


rU6  The  Hanoverian  Kings  ^ 

knocked  a  hole  in  every  caddy  of  tea,  and  then 
threw  it  into  the  sea.  They  then  went  away, 
and  dissolving  in  the  crowd  of  white  people 
that  were  looking  on,  they  were  never  recog- 
nized afterward.  The  expense  of  this  tea  party 
was  charged  up  against  the  city  of  Boston,  and 
King  George's  two  regiments  came  over  to  col- 
lect the  bill. 

Then  began  that  glorious  fight  for  constitu- 
tional liberty  whose  shots  were  ^^  heard  around 
the  world.'' 

Among  the  friends  of  America  in  the  English 
Parliament  during  the  war  of  the  American 
Revolution,  was  Edmund  Burke,  an  Irishman. 

In  one  of  his  speeches  he  said: 

^^Our  hold  upon  the  colonies  is  in  the  close 
affection  that  grows  from  common  names,  from 
kindred  blood,  from  similar  privileges  and  pro- 
tection. These  are  ties  which,  though  light 
as  air,  are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron.  Let  the 
colonies  always  keep  the  ideas  of  their  civil 
rights  associated  with  our  government;  they 
will  then  cling  and  grapple  to  us  and  no  force 
under  heaven  will  be  of  power  to  tear  them 
from  their  allegiance.  But  let  it  be  once  under- 
stood that  our  government  may  be  one  thing, 
and  their  privileges  another,  that  these  two 
things  may  exist  without  any  mutual  relation, 
then  the  cement  is  gone,  the  cohesion  is  loosened, 


George  III  .  347 

and  everything  hastens  to  decay  and  dissohi- 
tion/^ 

There  were  eight  long,  weary  years  of  war  be- 
fore our  colonial  grandfathers  compelled  the 
English  government  to  acknowledge  their  in- 
dependence. It  does  not  seem  probable  that 
even  then  it  would  have  been  gained  but  for 
the  unsurpassed  greatness  of  George  Washington; 
great  as  a  general,  great  as  a  statesman,  great  as 
a  man. 

England  seemed  to  be  on  the  verge  of  her 
own  destruction  a  little  before  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  closed.  She  stood  alone  against  a 
world  in  arms.  But  it  was  then  as  it  had  ever 
been.  Englishmen  were  found  able  to  change 
defeat  into  victory,  and  under  the  great  min- 
isters that  now  took  the  place  of  those  ^'friends" 
of  King  George,  England  began  to  awaken  from 
her  stupor,  and  to  shake  herself  free  from  her 
foes  who  had  her  by  the  throat.  AVhen  she 
placed  her  best  men  in  places  of  command  no 
nation  could  stand  against  her. 

George  III.  was  on  the  throne  for  sixty 
years,  but  for  a  part  of  this  long  period  he  was 
insane  at  times,  and  during  the  last  nine  years 
he  was  both  mad  and  blind.  His  personal  lead- 
ership ceased  and  the  plan  of  government  by 
cabinet  and  Parliament  was  again  resumed. 


348 


The  Hanoverian  Kings 


When  Lord  Chatham  was  no  longer  able  to 
lead  the  government,  his  son,  known  as  the 
younger  Pitt,  took  his  place.  He,  like  his 
father,  entered  Parliament  when  a  young  man, 


David. 


NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE. 


being  only  twenty-three  years  of  age.  He  soon 
attained  to  the  greatness  of  his  father  if  not 
to  his  masterful  oratory.  For  nearly  a 
quarter   of   a   century   the   younger   Pitt   was 


Gecrrge  III  349 

the  pilot  of  the  EngHsh  ship  of  state. 
It  was  the  time  when  Napoleon  was  com- 
pelling the  nations  of  the  continent  of 
Europe  to  bow  to  his  superior  genius  and  re- 
lentless mil.  England  alone  stood  her  ground, 
and  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo  finally  freed  the 
world  from  this  destroyer  of  the  peace  of  the 
world.  The  younger  Pitt  was  the  leader  cf 
England  until  the  battle  of  Austerlitz.  This 
was  the  battle  in  which  Bonaparte  defeated  the 
combined  armies  of  both  Russia  and  Austria. 
It  was  said  that  ^'  Austerlitz  killed  Pitt.^^  Death 
had  long  been  standing  at  his  door  ^^and  this 
blow  to  his  hopes  proved  fatal.''  ^^Roll  up  the 
map"  he  said,  pointing  to  a  map  of  Europe  that 
hijng  upon  the  wall,  ^^it  will  not  be  wanted 
these  ten  years.''  He  died  murmuring,  '^My 
country!  How  I  leave  my  country!"  He  was 
buried  in  the  grave  with  his  great  father  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  Lord  Wellesle}",  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  exclaimed  "What  grave  contains 
such  a  father  and  such  a  son !  What  sepulcher 
embosoms  the  remains  of  so  much  human  ex- 
cellence and  gloiy!" 

But  Waterloo  was  to  be  fought  nine  years 
afterward  (in  1815)  and  England  was  again  to 
rise  in  glory  from  another  life  and  death  strug- 
gle with  her  foes. 


350  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

George  III.  was  still  alive.  He  died  five 
years  after  the  "Great  Duke^s'^  victory  at 
Waterloo.  While  the  king  was  master  his  was 
one  of  the  most  inglorious  of  reigns.  After 
the  truly  great  men  in  England  came  to  rule  in 
his  place,  no  period  ever  ended  in  greater  glory. 

You  will  wonder  why  the  wealthy  and  power- 
ful cities  and  towns  in  England  were  content  to 
live  so  long  without  having  the  legal  right  to 
vote  for  members  of  Parliament  who  made  the 
laws  to  govern  them.  I  think  Chatham  and  his 
great  son  William  Pitt  often  wondered  too. 
They  both  attempted  more  than  once  to  arouse 
the  country  to  the  need  of  purer  elections  and 
a  fuller  representation  of  all  the  people.  But 
those  who  held  the  right  to  vote,  many  of  them 
the  great  lords  and  gentlemen,  were  not  willing 
to  send  representatives  to  Parliament  who  would 
make  a  law  that  should  take  their  power  out  of 
their  hands.  It  was  fifty  years  after  the  death 
of  the  younger  Pitt  before  this  reform  began. 
During  all  this  period  the  rotten  boroughs  con- 
tinued to  send  in  their  creatures  to  do  the  bid- 
ding of  their  masters,  and  a  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons  was  chosen  by  less  than  200 
voters. 

The  faults  of  George  III.  were  of  the  head 
more  than  of  the  heart.  He  really  wished  to 
serve  his  country  and  to  rule  as  an  English 


George  III  351 

monarch  should.  He  was  sincere  but  too  big- 
oted in  his  rehgion  to  tolerate  the  religious 
freedom  of  all  his  subjects,  and  too  narrow  in  his 
views,  and  too  weak  in  judgment  to  appreciate 
the  statesmanship  of  Lord  Chatham  and  his 
great  son.  He  was  a  man  of  many  virtues  and 
for  these  the  common  people  loved  hun. 

SEARCH  AND  TEST  QUESTIONS. 

When  did  George  III.  become  king?  How  long  did  he  occupy 
the  throne?  What  was  the  lesson  his  mother  taught  him?  What 
was  his  notion  of  being  king?  Why  did  he  wish  to  tax  the  American 
colonies?  Why  did  the  colonists  object  to  it?  How  did  the  king 
answer  this  objection?  What  was  the  "Stamp  Act"?  Why  was 
it  repealed?  What  was  the  next  attempt  to  tax  the  colonists? 
Relate  the  story  of  the  Boston  "Tea- Party."  What  war  did  this 
act  lead  to?  What  was  the  result  of  the  war?  Who  was  the  Younger 
Pitt?  What  did  the  Duke  of  Wellington  say  of  him?  Why  was 
the  battle  of  Waterloo  important?  Explain  why  the  people  of 
England  permitted  so  small  a  number  of  voters  to  represent  them 
in  parliament. 


XXXIV. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PARLIA- 
MENT. 

In  the  time  of  King  Alfred  the  English  Parlia- 
ment was  called  the  Council  of  the  Wise.  We 
learned  in  chapter  IV.  that  when  the  Angles 
and  Saxons  first  came  to  Britain,  and  every  man 
was  a  freeman,  there  were  among  them  some 
who  were  richer  and  wiser  than  the  mass  of  the 
people.  They  were  called  the  Witan — the  Wise. 
They  were  the  councilors  of  the  great  generals 
and  chieftains.  When  William  the  Conqueror 
became  king  he  chose  his  councilors  from  among 
the  officers  of  his  army  and  the  dignitaries  of 
the  church.  These  he  would  call  together 
whenever  he  thought  of  making  a  new  law  that 
applied  to  them.  They  were  the  great  Barons  to 
whom  he  had  given  large  tracts  of  land  which 
they  were  to  hold  as  his  vassals.  That  is,  they 
were  to  pay  rent  for  this  land  by  going  with  him 
to  war  and  bringing  a  certain  number  of  soldiers 
with  them.  You  remember  that  these  Normans 
had  lived  in  France  and  spoke  the  French  lan- 

352 


The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament  353 

guage.  So  it  came  about  that  these  Norman- 
French  kings  called  the  Council  of  the  Wise 
"The  Parliament''  because  parler  was  their 
word  for  talk. 

At  first  Parliament  consisted  only  of  the 
Churchmen  and  Barons.  They  have  been  a 
part  of  the  Parliament  ever  since. 

You  will  remember  that  the  archbishops  and 
bishops  of  the  church  have  been  very  important 
men  in  the  government  from  the  time  of  Alfred 
to  the  present.  The  upper  house  of  the  English 
Parliament  is  now  made  up  of  Lords  and  Church- 
men. You  will  also  remember  that  the  great 
charter  that  King  John  was  compelled  to  sign 
declared  it  to  be  the  right  of  the  barons  to  be 
called  in  council  whenever  the  king  wished  to 
tax  the  nation  for  any  purpose  whatever. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  the  king  was  at  war 
with  his  barons  because  he  insisted  upon  violat- 
ing the  great  charter  which  he  had  solemnly 
promised  to  obey.  Simon  de  Montfort  was  the 
leader  of  those  who  opposed  the  king.  He  was 
the  greatest  of  the  barons,  and  believed  the  char- 
ter must  be  amended  in  order  to  insure  its  ob- 
servance by  the  king.  He  said  that  not  only  the 
lords  but  the  middle  class  of  people  should  be 
represented  in  Parliament.  Man}^  of  the  barons 
were  opposed  to  giving  so  much  power  to  the 


354  The  Hanoverian  Rings 

lower  class,  and  they  went  over  to  the  side  of  the 
king.  But  Mpntfort  had  the  church-men,  the 
county  squires,  the  towns-men,  and  some  of  the 
barons  with  him.  In  a  battle  that  followed 
Montf ort  was  victorious  and  the  king  was  taken 
prisoner. 

Then  he  called  together  a  national  Parliament 
of  bishops,  abbots,  earls  and  barons,  also  two 
knights  from  every  county,  and  two  of  the  chief 
men  of  every  town,  or  borough.  This  was  the 
first  Parliament  in  which  all  classes  of  freemen 
were  represented. 

But  in  another  battle  the  barons  who  stood 
for  the  king,  having  been  heavily  reinforced, 
were  victorious,  and  Simon  de  Montf  ort  was  killed 
on  the  battle  field.  The  king  was  then  restored 
to  the  throne  and  Montfort^s  Parliament  was 
dissolved.  But  King  Edward  I.,  who  suc- 
ceeded Henry  III.,  called  a  Parliament  com- 
posed of  representatives  from  the  same  classes 
of  society  as  that  of  Montfort,  which  he  con- 
tinued as  his  Council  during  his  reign. 

It  was  nearly  100  years  after  Montfort,  that 
the  Black  Death  visited  England  (see  page  146) 
and  swept  away  one-half  of  the  population.  It 
was  especially  fatal  among  the  laboring  classes. 
After  the  plague  there  were  not  enough  laborers 
in  England  to  do  the  woik  of  the  farms,  and 
this  brought  about  changes  in  the  methods  of 


The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament  355 

farming  and  in  the  laws  that  soon  drove  many 
of  these  laborers  into  crime.  They  became 
thieves  and  robbers.  Bands  of  highwaymen 
made  all  travel  unsafe,  and  even  homes  were 
sacked  in  open  day.  The  barons  had  enough 
retainers  to  protect  their  estates,  but  their  fre- 
qvient  quarrels  with  each  other  caused  the  death 
of  many  of  the  great  nobles  and  lawlessness  and 
disorder  increased  everywhere. 

Simon  de  Montfort  has  been  called  the  father 
of  the  modern  house  of  Parliament  and  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution.  He  planted  ideas  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  that  finally  led  to  freedom, 
although  many  backward  steps  were  taken  in 
the  long  struggle  that  followed.  We  learn  that 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  Parliament  was 
divided  into  two  Houses — the  Lords  and  the 
Commons.  The  knights  of  the  counties  and 
the  burgesses  from  the  towns  made  up  the 
House  of  Commons.. 

The  people  in  these  two  reigns  concluded  that 
the  king  had  no  right  to  tax  them  except  by 
vote  of  Parliament.  They  often  used  this  power 
to  their  own  profit  and  protection.  When  the 
king  ruled  badly  and  made  laws  too  oppressive, 
Parliament  would  refuse  to  grant  the  money  he 
asked  until  he  repealed  the  oppressive  laws  and 
promised  in  future  to  do  as  the  Great  Charter 
directed.     The  next  Parliament  probably  would 


356  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

have  other  grievances  which  the  king  would  re- 
dress, provided  the  tax  was  voted. 

The  lawless  condition  of  the  i*viral  districts  and 
the  weakness  of  the  barons  to  defend  their  own 
estates  from  plunder  by  the  outlaws,  or  by  foes 
of  their  own  class,  caused  all  lovers  of  order  to 
favor  a  strong  central  government  which  could 
bring  these  law-breakers  to  justice. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  V.  ParUament  attained 
its  greatest  power.  This  Henry  was,  in  his 
youth,  it  is  said,  the  leader  of  a  disorderly  band 
made  up  of  young  lords  and  squires,  but  when 
he  came  to  the  throne  his  character  seemed  sud- 
denly to  change.  He  at  once  arose  to  the  full 
level  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  a  king, 
and  England  never  had  a  ruler  that  did  so 
much  to  establish  Parliament  as  an  independent 
power  in  the  government  of  the  nation.  Now 
for  the  first  time  the  ^^ Privilege"  of  Parliament 
was  declared.  We  remember  that  when  Charles 
I.  entered  the  House  of  Commons  to  arrest  five 
of. the  members,  the  Commons  cried  ''Privilege! 
Privilege!"  This  privilege  to  act  as  an  inde- 
pendent department  of  the  government  was 
acknowledged  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V.,  (1400) 
two  hundred  years  before  James  I.  came  to  the 
throne. 

Fifty  years  after  the  reign  of  Henry  V.  Ed- 
ward IV.  began  to  use  and  even  exceed  his  pre- 


The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament  357 

rogatives  in  making  himself  absolute  ruler. 
Now  begins  arbitrar}^  monarchy  which  con- 
tinued well  into  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
The  social  disorder  made  the  people  prefer  an 
absolute  ruler  who  could  keep  order,  to  a  free 
Parliament  that  could  not. 

But  the  form  of  government  by  Parliament 
and  the  king  was  kept  up  during  this  period, 
though  Parliament  was  merely  the  bondslave 
of  the  king.  It  was  often  convenient  for  the  king 
to  shield  himself  behind  the  vote  of  Parliament, 
when  the  people  complained  of  heavy  taxes. 
The  people  cared  more  for  the  protection  of 
their  property  than  for  anything  else. 

There  were  certain  towns  and  cities  that  had 
long  had  the  right  to  send  members  to  Parlia- 
ment. Sometimes  they  objected  to  passing  the 
.  laws  the  king  wanted.  Then  the  king  would  send 
them  all  home  and  grant  to  other  small  boroughs 
the  right  to  send  up  members,  provided  they 
would  select  men  who  would  do  what  the  king 
ordered.  These  new  members  would  make  the 
king^s  party  in  Parliament  large  enough  to  out- 
vote the  opposition  and  so  the  king  would  have 
his  way  without  violating  the  law.  It  was  in  this 
way  that  the  little  hamlets  gained  the  privilege 
of  sending  representatives  to  Parliament.  No 
borough  or  city  could  send  representatives  unless 
the  king  granted  to  them  the  right,  and  he  would 


358  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

grant  it  only  to  those  whom  he  could  control. 
The  number  of  representatives  grew  from  reign 
to  reign,  but  the  number  of  people  who  were 
permitted  to  send  them  was  small.  You  now 
see  the  origin  of  those  ^^ rotten  boroughs''  that 
later  furnished  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. 

Even  Queen  Elizabeth  would  sometimes  bring 
into  Parliament  new  members  from  the  little 
boroughs  which  had  never  sent  representatives 
before.  She  did  not  do  this  very  often  for  she 
seldom  called  her  Parliament.  She  managed  to 
live  within  her  income  most  of  the  time,  and  did 
not  often  worry  her  people  with  taxes.  She  and 
her  councilors  thought  they  could  govern  the 
country  alone,  and  they  generally  did  it  very 
well. 

You  have  learned  how  much  trouble  there 
was  between  Parliament  and  the  Stuart  kings. 
The  king  could  no  longer  bring  in  a  lot  of  new 
members  whenever  he  was  out-voted,  but  his 
ministers  now  began  to  bribe  the  members  to 
vote  for  the  king's  measures.  This  was  carried 
on  for  a  long  time.  Towns  grew  to  be  cities  and 
the  population  grew  to  be  many  millions  and  yet 
160,000  English  voters  sent  up  all  the  members 
to  the  House  of  Commons. 

It  is  said  that  even  when  the  population  of 
England  had  increased  to  20,000,000,  a  major- 


The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament  350 


360  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

ity  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  sent  up  by 
less  than  6,000  voters.  An  EngUsh  society  for 
the  advancement  of  ParHamentary  reform  at 
the  time,  declared  publicly  and  offered  to  prove 
that  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  was 
actually  sent  up  by  154  persons. 

After  the  death  of  George  III.  there  began  to 
be  some  improvement.  A  reform  set  in  that 
gave  to  holders  of  property  worth  a  certain 
amount,  the  right  to  vote.  Then  other  reforms 
followed  that,  until  the  great  reformer,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, who  had  become  prime  minister,  took  the 
matter  up  in  1885  and  gave  to  every  householder 
the  right  to  vote,  and  increased  the  number  of 
members  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  670. 

The  House  of  Commons  worked  for  four 
months  in  the  preparation  of  this  last  Reform 
Bill  and  then  the  House  of  Lords,  composed  of 
lords  and  bishops,  refused  to  pass  it  when  it 
came  up  to  them.  This  caused  great  excite- 
ment throughout  England.  It  was  not  supposed 
that  the  House  of  Lords  would  do  other  than 
pass  the  bill  that  the  representatives  of  the 
people  had  agreed  upon.  Then  it  was  that 
some  pretty  ugly  things  were  said  by  English- 
men concerning  the  House  of  Lords.  At  a  great 
meeting  of  the  people  in  London  only  twenty 
years  ago  John  Morley,  the  president  of  the  meet- 
ing said: 


The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament  361 

^^Be  sure  that  no  power  on  earth  can  separate 
henceforth  the  question  of  mending  the  House  of 
Commons,  from  the  question  of  mending  or  end- 
ing the  House  of  Lords. '^  Mr.  Bright,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  government,  said  ^ These  Lords 
are,  many  of  them,  the  spawn  of  the  plunder  and 
the  wars  and  the  corruption  of  the  dark  ages  of 
our  country/' 

Mr.  Chamberlain,  also  a  member  of  the  govern- 
ment, said :  '^During  the  last  one  hundred  years 
the  House  of  Lords  has  never  contributed  one 
iota  to  popular  liberties  or  popular  freedom,  or 
done  anything  to  advance  the  common  good; 
and  during  that  time  it  has  protected  every 
abuse.  It  is  irresponsible  without  independence, 
obstinate  without  courage,  arbitrary  without 
judgment,  and  arrogant  without  knowledge." 

These  were  all  harsh  words  that  foretold  harsh 
action  if  the  lords  persisted  in  resisting  the  will 
of  the  people.  They  yielded  and  the  Parliament 
was  reformed  by  giving  equal  representation  to 
all  in  the  whole  kingdom  who  were  householders 
and  otherwise  entitled  to  vote.  A  House  of 
670  members  could  neither  be  bought  nor  sold, 
and  the  people  are  now  sure  that  their  wishes  will 
be  heeded. 

HOW    PARLIAMENT    MAKES    LAWS. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland  are  now  divided 
into  a  definite  number  of  parliamentary  districts 


362  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

each  containing  about  the  same  number  of  vo- 
ters. The  representatives  are  elected  by  the 
voters  in  much  the  same  manner  as  in  the  United 
States. 

The  king  issues  a  royal  proclamation  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Parliament.  After  it  assembles 
the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  must  first 
elect  a  speaker  who  must  be  approved  by  the 
king.  (The  king  always  approves.)  Then  each 
of  the  commons  takes  the  oath  of  office,  the 
speaker  swearing  first.  After  this  the  king  in  a 
speech  before  the  joint  assembly  of  both  Houses 
states  the  causes  for  summoning  the  Parliament. 
This  address  is  considered  in  both  Houses  and 
an  answer  returned  to  the  king.  Then  the  two 
Houses  are  open,  and  they  begin  business.  The 
lord  chancellor,  whoever  he  may  be,  is  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Lords  by  virtue  of  his  office.  In 
the  United  States  the  vice-president  is  president 
of  the  Senate,  and  the  speaker  of  the  lower  House 
is  elected  by  the  members. 

In  England  the  usual  time  for  the  assembling 
of  the  Houses  is  about  4  o^clock  in  the  after- 
noon. On  Wednesdays  they  assemble  at  noon 
and  adjourn  at  6  p.  m.  This  is  called  a  morning 
session.  There  are  other  morning  sessions,  some 
times,  that  begin  at  2  p.  m.  and  close  at  7. 

Members  claim  the  right  to  speak  in  debate  by 
rising  in  their  places.     If  two  or  more  are  up  the 


The  Story  of  the  English  Parliament  363 

speaker  calls  the  one  who  is  to  speak.  In  the 
House  of  Lords  the  whole  house  calls  him.  In 
the  House  of  Commons  an  unruly  member  can 
be  punished  by  the  House. 

After  the  debate  upon  a  bill  is  closed  a  vote  is 
taken  in  a  way  different  from  the  ^'aye'^  and 
^^no"  vote  in  our  country.  There  are  two  rooms 
— one  on  each  side  of  the  chamber — called  lobby 
rooms.  Those  in  favor  of  the  bill  go  into  the 
room  on  the  right,  and  those  opposed  go  into  the 
one  on  the  left.  Then,  as  they  file  out,  they  go 
by  different  routes  back  to  their  seats,  so  that 
the  two  parties  are  kept  entirely  clear  of  each 
other.  Each  party  has  two  tellers,  one  counts 
the  members  as  they  pass,  and  the  other  checks 
their  names  on  his  list.  Then  the  tellers  come 
to  the  table  and  the  votes  on  each  side  are  re- 
ported by  one  of  the  tellers  for  the  majority. 

The  members  of  Parliament  sit  with  their  hats 
on,  or  are  privileged  to  do  so,  but  when  a  mes- 
senger from  the  king  comes,  or  the  king  himself 
enters  the  Houses,  heads  are  all  uncovered  ex- 
cept the  king's.  (Note  the  picture  in  story  of 
Charles  I.  The  members  are  all  standing  with 
hats  off  while  he  talks  to  them.) 

When  a  vacancy  occurs  in  the  lower  House  the 
speaker  issues  a  writ  for  a  new  election. 

If  a  member  becomes  bankrupt  by  losses  in 
business  or  otherwise,  his  seat  becomes  vacant. 


364  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

Such  a  misfortune  is  not  so  punished  in  the  United 
States.  All  members  of  Parliament  of  both 
houses  serve  without  pay.  Only  persons  of  con- 
siderable wealth  can  afford  to  stand  for  an  elec- 
tion. 

The  various  rules  that  govern  in  the  process  of 
enacting  a  bill  proposed  by  a  member  into  a 
law  of  the  land,  are  much  the  same  in  the 
English  Parliament  as  in  legislative  bodies 
in  this  country.  Indeed,  we  copied  their  rules 
far  back  in  our  colonial  days.  There  are  more 
than  five  hundred  members  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  yet  three  members  make  a  quorum. 
In  the  Commons  forty  members  are  required  to 
be  in  attendance  in  order  that  any  business  can 
be  done.  So  it  seems  that  while  there  are 
nearly  1,200  representatives  of  the  people  in  both 
houses,  forty-three  can  pass  laws  for  the  coun- 
try. The  attendance  of  members  is  often  very 
small  unless  some  exciting  question  is  up. 


XXX  Y. 

DISCOVERIES  AND  INVENTIONS. 

From  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  to  that  of 
George  III.  there  had  been  Uttle  improvement  in 
the  manner  in  which  the  English  people  lived  or 
in  the  industries  by  which  they  paid  their  ex- 
penses and  saved  something  for  old  age.  Almost 
everything  was  made  by  hand.  Cloth  was  manu- 
factured by  the  same  process  that  it  was  when 
the  barons  were  compelling  King  John  to  sign 
the  Magna  Charta.  Skins  were  tanned  into 
leather  by  hand,  and  shoes  were  made  by  men 
working  at  the  bench,  as  cobblers  work  now. 
The  roads  were  almost  impassable.  They  grew 
worse  as  population  increased,  for  it  was  no  one's 
business  to  keep  them  in  repair.  Cities  and 
towns  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  many 
things,  but  their  goods  had  to  be  carried  on  pack 
horses,  the  same  as  when  the  Romans  ruled  over 
Britain.  There  were  manufactories  in  which 
much  work  was  done  by  laborers  with  improved 
tools,  and  merchandise  of  many  kinds  was  pro- 
duced and  sold,  both  in  the  home  market  and  in 

365 


366  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

foreign  countries.  England  had  grown  rich  by 
these  industries,  but  the  work  was  done  in  the 
same  old  way.  But  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  reign  of  George  III.  wonderful  changes  took 
place. 

In  1761  an  engineer,  whose  name  was  Brind- 
ley,  made  a  canal  from  Manchester,  a  town  that 
manufactured  a  large  amount  of  cotton  goods, 
to  Liverpool,  the  seaport.  This  gave  cheap  and 
rapid  transportation  of  raw  cotton  from  Liver- 
pool to  Manchester,  and  of  the  cloth  back  again 
from  Manchester  to  Liverpool,  where  it  could 
be  shipped  to  other  points.  Very  soon  canals 
were  constructed  between  several  other  cities, 
but  the  roads  through  the  country  were  as  bad  as 
ever. 

In  1767  a  spinning  machine  was  invented 
by  Hargreaves,  improved  by  Arkwright  in 
1769,  and  further  improved  by  Crompton  in 
1779.  It  is  now  known  as  the  ^'Spinning  Jen- 
nie," or  ''Mule,"  which  draws  out  the  wool  from 
the  roll,  stretches  it  and  twists  it  into  a  thread 
of  equal  size  at  every  point,  and  winds  the  thread 
on  a  spindle,  all  at  practically  the  same  time. 
One  machine  will  work  a  large  number  of  these 
spindles,  and  each  spindle  will  make  thread  much 
faster  than  one  person  could  spin  it  on  the  hand 
spinning-wheel  then  in  use. 


Discoveries  and  Inventions  367 

These  inventions  greatly  increased  the  amount 
of  both  cotton  and  woolen  cloth  made  in  Eng- 
land, so  that  England  clothed  many  of  the  people 
of  the  world  outside  of  the  island. 

But  this  machine  would  have  been  of  less  value 
if  the  manufacturers  had  been  compelled  to  de- 
pend upon  water  and  the  wind  to  drive  it. 

It  was  James  Watt  who  invented  a  machine  in 
1765  by  which  steam  could  be  used  in  the  place 
of  water  or  wind.  At  first  his  machine  could 
only  pump  water  out  of  the  coal  mines.  It  was 
twenty  years  before  Watt  had  so  improved  his 
engine  that  it  could  be  used  to  move  machinery 
of  all  kinds. 

In  1785,  the  year  in  which  Watt  perfected  his 
steam  engine,  Dr.  Cartwright  invented  the  power- 
loom.  After  this  was  done  it  was  possible  to 
prepare  the  wool  or  cotton  or  flax  for  spinning, 
to  spin  it,  and  to  weave  it  into  cloth  all  by  ma- 
chinery that  was  moved  by  the  powder  of  steam. 
The  laborers  now  changed  their  work  from  hand 
labor,  in  making  the  different  fabrics,  to  tending 
the  machines  that  did  the  work  for  them. 

The  steam  engine,  in  time,  superseded  the 
water  mills  in  all  great  factories,  and  millions 
of  yards  of  cotton,  woolen,  and  linen  cloth  were 
turned  out  where  before  only  thousands  of  yards 
were  made.    Water  power  was  used  in  the  smaller 


368  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

mills  for  many  years,  because  of  the  expense  of 
steam  engines. 

In  1763  a  potter,  whose  name  was  Wedgewood, 
set  up  some  potteries  and  called  Mr.  Flaxman, 
the  artist,  to  his  assistance,  and  together  they 
made  pottery  that  excelled  that  made  in  Holland 
and  France,  which  countries  were  then  thought 
to  make  the  best  in  the  world.  We  still  buy 
Wedge  wood  ware  at  the  china  stores. 

WTiile  all  these  improvements  in  manufactur- 
ing were  going  on  and  for  some  time  before,  there 
were  equally  great  improvements  in  farming. 
Mr,  Arthur  Young  traveled  much  over  the  world 
to  learn  what  the  best  farmers  in  the  world  knew 
about  farming.  He  wrote  some  books  which 
were  widely  read  by  the  farmers  of  England. 
By  following  his  advice  they  were  soon  able  to 
make  several  heads  of  wheat,  and  oats,  and 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  only  one,  or  none 
grew  before.  This  greatly  increased  the  wealth 
of  the  farmers  who  were  now  better  able  to  buy 
what  the  factories  turned  out,  by  selling  to  the 
towns  and  cities  food,  and  wool,  and  flax  for  the 
workers  in  the  factories. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  invention  and  discovery 
of  all  for  the  advancement  of  the  wealth  and 
general  prosperity  of  England  was  a  great  book 
written  by  Adam  Smith  in  1776,  the  year  that 
our  American  grandfathers  made  their  Declara- 


Discoveries  and  Inventions  369 

tion  of  Independence.  It  was  called  'The  Wealth 
of  Nations."  It  told  the  statesmen  who  were 
running  the  government,  and  making  laws  for 
the  land,  what  laws  the  country  needed  in  order 
to  make  it  not  only  the  richest  but  the  happiest 
and  most  powerful  country  in  the  world.  The 
people  and  the  statesmen  now  saw  what  they  had 
not  seen  before,  and  believed  it,  and  so  the  laws 
were  improved  in  time.  But  England  has  al- 
ways been  very  slow  in  improving  her  laws. 

During  all  this  time  of  rapid  improvement  in 
f aiming  and  in  manufactuiing  there  were  no 
means  of  transporting  rapidly  the  products  of 
the  farms  and  the  factories  to  the  seaports  and 
elsewhere.  The  canals  were  an  improvement 
on  the  impassable  roads  but  there  were  only  a 
few  of  those  and  they  connected  only  the  large 
cities.  The  canal  boats  moved  slowly — not 
faster  than  a  horse  could  walk. 

Public  opinion  now  asked  for  better  roads  and 
the  people  and  the  lawmakers  took  the  matter  in 
hand  and  soon  discovered  what  the  Romans  had 
found  out  nearly  two  thousand  years  before, 
that  good  roads  are  essential  in  carrying  on  the 
business  of  a  country.  They  were  supplied  when 
the  slow-thinking  Englishmen  finally  woke  up 
to  their  importance,  and  then  the  freight-wagons, 
the  stage-coaches,  and  the  private  conveyances 
increased  in  number.     This  helped  the  commu- 


370  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

nication  between  homes  and  between  towns  at 
no  great  distance  apart.  But  for  long  distances 
and  great  loads  good  roads  were  not  sufficient 
and  the  canals  were  too  slow. 

But  you  have  learned  that  when  England  felt 
the  need  of  a  great  man  and  began  to  look  for 
him  he  was  pretty  sure  to  appear.  George  Ste- 
phenson was  a  poor  boy  who  made  himself  an  en- 
gineer. He  believed  that  if  steam  could  run  ma- 
chinery and  make  wheels  go  round  in  a  factory, 
it  could  also  make  wheels  go  round  on  a  road. 
So  he  tried  it. 

The  wise  men  laughed  at  the  idea.  The  great 
Quarterly  Review  said:  ^'What  could  be  more 
palpably  absurd  or  ridiculous  than  the  prospect 
held  out  of  locomotives  traveling  twice  as  fast  as 
stage  coaches?"  But  Stephenson  did  not  think 
it  so  absurd.  He  made  a  machine  which  he 
called  the  ^  ^Rocket, '^  and  had  a  railroad  made 
for  it  to  run  upon.  Then  he  called  his  friends 
together  to  test  the  ^ ^ridiculous  absurdity.'' 
There  were  two  other  machines  by  other  invent- 
ors that  came  to  compete  with  him.  One  of 
them  would  not  budge  an  inch  when  the  engineer 
opened  the  steam  valve.  The  other  moaned 
and  groaned  and  managed  to  get  along  about  as 
fast  as  a  man  could  walk.  But  Stephenson's 
'^Rocket"  started  at  once  and  ran  at  the  rate  of 
35  miles  an  hour  and  drew  a  nuitiber  of  cars  after 


Discoveries  and  Inventions 


371 


it.  This  was  a  great  triumph  indeed,  and  the 
world  suddenly  discovered  that  rapid  and  cheap 
transportation,  the  two  things  needful  for  the 
highest  success  in  business,  were  now  provided. 
(The  picture  shows  how  the  ^'Rocket"  was  made, 
and  how  the  engine  was  supplied  with  water  from 
a  barrel  in  the  tender.) 


stephe.nson's  "rocket.'' 


This  happened  in  1829 — more  than  forty  years 
after  Watt  had  set  his  steam  pumps  to  work  in 
the  coal  mines. 

It  was  in  1807  that  Robert  Fulton,  an  Ameri- 
can, built  a  steamboat  to  run  on  the  Hudson 
River.  This  was  the  first  successful  attempt  to 
build  a  steamboat. 

When  we  consider  that  for  fifteen  hundred 
years  improvements  in  the  industries  of  the  peo- 


372  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

pie  of  England  had  appeared  to  be  in  a  protound 
sleep,  it  seems  wonderful  that  the  people  should 
have  awakened  so  suddenly  to  their  condi- 
tion, and  have  performed  in  so  short  a  time, 
the  wonderful  feats  that  have  been  described  in 
this  chapter.  There  is  nothing  in  the  previous 
history  of  the  nation  that  is  like  it.  These  re- 
markable inventions  and  discoveries  put  Eng- 
land in  the  front  rank  of  the  nations  of  the  earth 
in  commerce,  and  her  commerce  has  called  for 
the  greatest  navy  in  the  world  to  defend  it.  The 
conflict  between  parties  and  nations  now  is  not 
for  political,  religious,  and  social  freedom,  as  it 
was  throughout  the  world  previous  to  the  time 
of  George  III.,  but  wars  are  now  carried  on,  with 
an  occasional  exception,  to  defend  the  rights 
of  property  or  to  obtain  more  of  these  rights. 
When  there  is  a  conflict  between  the  prop- 
erty rights  of  individuals  they  are  now  and  have 
for  centuries  been  settled  in  the  courts.  Persons 
are  no  longer  permitted  to  fight  with  each  other 
to  the  death  with  swords  or  pistols  to  settle  such 
disputes.  The  nations  now  have  such  a  court. 
It  is  probable  that  the  next  generation  of  voters 
in  every  nation  will  order  that  their  governments 
shall  bring  their  causes  into  this  court  to  be  set- 
tled on  their  merits,  and  not  seek  to  settle  them 
by  the  old  barbarous  principle  that  might  makes 
right,  and  by  killing  one  another. 


XXXVI. 

QUEEN  VICTORIA. 

1837—1901. 

It  was  during  England's  struggle  with  Bona- 
parte that  her  fiist  war  with  the  United  States 
arose — the  War  of  1812.  Our  English  grand- 
fathers had  a  great  number  of  warships,  and  her 
captains  and  admirals  were  able  commanders. 
No  navy  of  any  other  nation  could  stand  against 
them.  Bonaparte  had  control  of  the  great  na- 
vies of  the  world,  but  Nelson,  the  English  ad- 
miral, and  the  other  English  commanders,  swept 
these  off  the  sea  or  so  crippled  them  that  they 
were  useless.  At  this  time  Bonaparte  had  all 
the  nations  of  Europe  in  his  power  except  Eng- 
land, and  he  determined  to  ciush  her.  So  he  for- 
bade all  the  other  nations  to  trade  with  the  Eng- 
lish, hoping  in  this  way  to  ruin  her  comm.erce. 
Then  England  forbade  the  United  States  to  trade 
with  France  and  with  other  European  countries, 
except  under  humiliating  conditions.  The 
United  States  was  not   a  party  to  the  French 

373 


374  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

and  English  war,  and  had  all  the  rights  of  a  neu- 
tral nation.  But  England  had  no  love  for  the 
United  States,  and  because  she  thought  her 
unable  to  defend  her  rights  she  did  not  feel 
bound  to  respect  what  she  did  not  fear.  She 
not  only  ruined  our  commerce  but  stopped 
our  vessels  on  the  high  seas  and  searched  them 
for  Englishmen  employed  as  sailors.  Often  she 
would  draft  these  into  her  army,  whether  they 
were  citizens  of  our  country  or  not.  As  many 
as  600  were  thus  seized  and  forced  into  the 
English  army. 

After  enduring  such  outrages  for  a  long  time 
Congress  finally  declared  war,  and  for  two  years 
England  and  the  United  States  fought  each  other 
on  land  and  sea. 

The  unexpected  happened  when  the  warships 
of  our  country  captured  or  destroyed  in  fair  fight 
some  of  the  best  ships  of  the  English  navy.  The 
plower  England  despised  was, alone  able  to  meet 
her  on  the  sea.  The  war  on  land  added  nothing 
to  the  military  reputation  of  either  nation.  The 
battle  of  New  Orleans,  where  General  Jackson 
defeated  a  large  force  of  the  British  with  a  very 
small  loss  to  his  own  army,  was  the  last  one  of 
the  war.  This,  and  our  naval  victories,  won 
for  our  young  nation  the  respect  of  all  the  gov- 
ernments of  Europe,  and  the  mother  country 
began  to  look  upon  her  growing  child,  who  had 


Queen   Victona  375 

left  the  maternal  roof  without  permission,  with 
feelings  akin  to  pride. 

We  learned  in  the  last  chapter  that  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Waterloo  (in  1815)  England  defeated  and 
captured  Bonaparte,  the  greatest  military  genius 
of  the  world.  Bonaparte  was  imprisoned  on 
the  island  of  St.  Helena,  near  the  western' 
coast  of  Africa,  after  his  defeat  at  Waterloo, 
where  he  died  six  years  afterward,  in  1821. 
He  began  his  career  as  the  liberator  of  the  French 
people,  and  ended  it  as  the  bloodiest  of  tyrants, 
execrated  by  the  world.  For  fifty  years  after 
his  overthrow  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  quenched 
throughout  Europe,  except  in  England.  At 
length  this  spirit  began  again  to  revive  and  his- 
torians now  give  much  of  the  credit  for  the  po- 
litical freedom,  the  people  enjo}'  throughout  Eu- 
rope to  the  terrible  French  revolution.  It  takes 
a  long  time  to  get  a  true  idea  of  freedom  into 
the  heads  of  the  human  race. 

VICTORIA. 

George  IV.  and  WilUam  IV.,  sons  of  George 
III.,  wore  the  crown  for  a  few  years  after  their 
father's  death,  but  with  little  credit  to  them- 
selves or  honor  to  the  nation.  Indeed,  royalty 
was  of  little  worth  from  the  death  of  William  III. 
to  the  accession  of  Queen  Victoria,  the  grand- 


376  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

daughter  of  George  III.     She  was  crowned  in 
1837,  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 

Now  began  the  Victorian  era  of  EngUsh  prog- 
ress. Her  government  was  not  arbitrary  Uke 
that  of  Elizabeth.  She  ruled  through  her  cabi- 
net; the  cabinet  was  made  up  of  the  leaders 
of  the  majority  in  Parliament.  The  Parlia- 
ment, during  the  latter  portion  of  her  reign,  was 
elected  by  a  free  vote  of  all  of  the  English  people. 

The  first  remarkable  event  of  her  reign  was 
the  erection  of  the  first  electric  telegraph  (1837). 
Very  soon  after  this  there  arose  a  great  agitation 
among  the  people  for  a  change  in  the  govern- 
ment. 

The  refoimers  called  for  a  fresh  Parliament 
to  meet  every  year,  instead  of  one  every  three 
years. 

They  demanded  that  every  Englishman  twen- 
ty-one years  old  should  have  the  right  to  vote 
for  members  of  the  House  of  Commons: 
^  They  also  asked  permission  to  vote  by  ballot, 
so  that  their  powerful  opponents  could  not  know 
how  they  voted. 

They  wanted  the  kingdom  divided  into  Par- 
liamentary districts  of  equal  population. 

They  held  that  a  law-abiding  citizen  should 
have  the  right  to  vote  whether  he  had  any  prop- 
erty or  not. 

Last  of  all,  they  demanded  that  members  of 


Queen  Victoria  377 

Parliament  should  be  paid  a  salary.  As  it  then 
was,  only  rich  men  could  afford  to  become  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  for  they  were  compelled  to 
pay  all  of  the  expenses  of  such  a  life  and  could 
earn  nothing  while  working  for  the  public.  The 
reformers  thought  that  it  was  not  right  that  some 
of  the  ablest  men  in  the  nation  should  be  kept  out 
of  Parliament  because  they  were  poor. 

Three  of  these  demands  became  laws  in  after 
years.  These  were,  election  by  ballot,  equal 
districts,  and  no  property  qualification  required 
in  order  to  vote.  The  other  three  demands  have 
not  yet  become  laws.  All  six  of  these  reforms 
have  been  laws  in  the  United  States  from  the 
beginning  of  our  government. 

The  English  move  very  slowly  in  changing 
their  form  of  government.  But  when  we  con- 
sider that  as  late  as  1793  a  majority  of  the  House 
of  Commons  was  elected  by  154  voters,  40  of 
whom  were  lords;  and  that  thirty  years  after- 
ward (1823)  only  one  man  was  allowed  to  vote 
for  every  forty  citizens,  it  seems  that  when  re- 
forms did  begin  they  moved  pretty  fast,  even 
in  England. 

Queen  Victoria  was  married  to  her  cousin  Al- 
bert, a  German  prince,  in  1840,  three  years  after 
she  became  queen. 

One  of  the  most  notable  events  in  Victoria's 
reign  was  the  World's  Fair,  it  being  the  first  that 


378  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

was  ever  held  (1851).  The  principal  building 
was  called  the  Crystal  Palace.  The  idea  of  a 
World's  Fair  was  a  new  one,  and  people  were 
afraid  of  new  ideas.  Many  people,  especially  in 
the  other  nations,  stood  back  to  see  how  it  would 
succeed.  But  the  manufacturers  thought  it  a 
good  chance  to  advertise  their  goods,  and  so  it 
proved.  The  fair  was  a  great  success,  and  Prince 
Albert  won  great  credit  and  much  honor  from  it. 
It  was  his  idea,  and  he  was  the  leading  spirit  in 
it  throughout.  Many  World's  Fairs  have  since 
been  held  in  different  countries. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  in  America 
(1861)  our  English  cousins  (we  speak  of  them  no 
longer  as  our  grandfathers)  were  made  to  believe 
that  our  government  wished  to  deprive  the  south- 
ern people  of  their  just  rights.  The  English 
aristocracy  had  control  of  the  government  of 
England,  and  really  wished  that  the  American 
union  might  be  overthrown.  They  declared  that 
it  was  already  destroyed  in  the  hearts  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  that  if  war  did  not  bring  about  disunion 
at  once,  mutual  hatred  would  do  it  later.  But, 
by  and  by,  the  plain  people  of  England  came 
to  understand  the  matter,  and  they  were  in 
favor  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  So, 
too,  was  Queen  Victoria.  The  middle  English- 
men stood  for  the  Union,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  they  were  suffeiing  for  want  of  cotton  from 


Queen  Victoria  370 

the  southern  states  with  which  to  run  their  mills. 
Thev  now  had  votes,  and  Parliament  listened 
to  them.  The  plain  people  in  England  have  al- 
wa3"s  been  the  friends  of  the  plain  people  in  Amer- 
ica. Even  the  aristocrats  are  coming  to  think 
that  maybe  the  Scottish  poet,  Burns,  was  right 
when  he  said : 

"Then  let  us  praj-^  that  come  it  may — 
As  come  it  will  for  a'  that — 
That  sense  and  worth,  o'er  a'  the  earth, 

They  bear  the  gree  ' ,  and  a'  that, 
For  a'  that,  and  a'  that. 

It's  coming  yet,  for  a'  that, 
That  man  to  man,  the  warld  o'er 

Shall  brothers  be  for  a'  that." 

During  our  Civil  War  the  English  government 
permitted  war  vessels  to  be  built  in  some  of  the 
English  shipyards  and  to  set  sail  to  prey  upon 
American  commerce.  This  was  in  violation  of 
the  laws  of  nations,  but  the  English  government 
probably  thought  the  United  States  would  never 
be  able  to  punish  her  for  this  unlawful  act.  These 
pirate  ships,  or  ' 'privateers,"  (another  name  for 
vessels  that  prey  upon  commerce)  did  great  dam- 
age to  American  trade.  One  of  the  worst  of  these 
sea-robbers  was  the  Alabama.  There  were  four 
others,  among  them  the  Florida.  These  rov- 
ers of  the  sea  were  considered  so  dangerous  that 
few  American  merchantmen  dared  to  leave  their 
harbor. 


^They  win  the  prize. 


380  The  Hanoverian  Kings 


• 


When  the  Civil  War  closed  the  United  States 
pressed  upon  England  the  people's  claim  for  dam- 
ages caused  by  these  privateers.  Instead  of  go- 
ing to  war  about  it,  the  two  governments  agreed 
to  arbitrate  the  case.  This  meant  that  they 
would  select  disinterested  persons  from  other 
nations  and  let  them  decide  the  whole  question. 
This  was  done.  The  arbitrators  decided  that 
England  should  pay  to  the  United  States 
£3,229,166  13s.  4d.  (Our  readers  can  find 
out  for  themselves  how  many  dollars  and 
cents  this  amounted  to.)  The  judges  decided 
also  that  the  English  did  not  really  intend 
to  have  these  freebooters  leave  their  ports, 
but  that  they  did  not  take  proper  care  to  pre- 
vent it.  Hence  they  must  pay  for  the  damage 
they  did. 

England  paid  the  money  and  the  ^  ^Alabama 
claims"  were  settled  without  bloodshed. 

This  was  the  first  case  in  the  history  of  the 
world  when  so  serious  a  dispute  between  two  of 
the  greatest  nations  was  settled  by  arbitration. 
Why  should  not  all  quarrels  between  nations 
be  settled  in  this  manner?  When  citizens  dis- 
agree about  their  business  they  take  their  cause 
into  the  court  where  it  is  decided  by  the  judge 
and  twelve  disinterested  citizens.  The  contend- 
ing parties  do  not  call  their  respective  friends  to- 


Queen  Victoria  '         3S1 

gether  and  seek  to  determine  which  is  in  the 
right  by  a  bloody  war. 

The  great  nations  of  the  earth  have  now 
established  an  international  court  at  The 
Hague,  a  city  in  Holland,  where  all  differences 
between  nations  can  be  settled  as  private  citizens 
settle  their  disputes.  At  this  time  (1903)  Eng- 
land, Germany  and  Italy  have  a  dispute  with 
Venezuela  about  the  payment  of  money  due 
from  the  latter.  After  some  fighting  and  the 
killing  of  a  score  or  two  of  innocent  people  the 
whole  matter  is  referred  to  the  international 
court  at  The  Hague.  We  are  told  that  the  inno- 
cent people  were  killed  to  heal  the  wounded 
honor  of  the  German  nation.  But  the  time 
seems  near  when  honor  will  not  be  more  blood- 
thirsty than  justice.  We  ate  fast  coming  to  see 
not  that  ^^might  makes  right,"  but  that  right 
makes  might. 

Victoria  wore  the  crown  for  sixty-four  years 
and  during  her  reign  the  English  sovereign  has 
been  acknowledged  the  ruler  of  more  than  one- 
fourth  of  the  world.  The  sun  is  ever  shining  upon 
some  part  of  England^s  dominions. 

Since  the  invasion  of  Julius  Caesar  the  struggle 
for  the  political,  religious,  and  social  freedom 
of  every  citizen  has  been  carried  on.  Much  has 
been  gained,  but  much  is  yet  to  be  acquired. 


382  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

The  chief  gains  in  freedom  in  England  have 
been: 

1.  Emancipation  of  the  poor  from  serfdom 
and  involuntary^  slavery  to  the  will  of  others. 

2.  Freedom  to  think  as  one's  reason  directs. 

3.  Freedom  to  worship  as  conscience  dic- 
tates. 

4.  Liberty  of  action,  when  the  acts  are  not 
such  as  to  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  others. 

5.  Freedom  of  the  press,  by  ^yhich  persons  are 
at  liberty  to  publish  their  opinions. 

6.  Liberty  of  every  citizen  to  vote  for  the 
man  he  would  have  to  represent  him  in  Par- 
liament. 

7.  Freedom  of  labor  from  excessive  daily  toil, 
especially  among  the  children. 

8.  Opportunity  for  every  >  citizen  to  have  his 
children  taught  in  school  to, read,  to  write  and 
to^  ^'cast  up  a^ccounts.^' 

9.  England  has  also  attained  to  freedom  of 
trade  and  of  commerce. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  recount  the  different 
kinds  of  freedom  that  have  come  to  the  English 
people  through  the  discoveries  that  have  been 
made  in  science  and  the  mechanical  inventions 
and  the  improvements  that  have  come  into  use 
during  Queen  Victoria's  reign. 

What  the  world  now  most  needs  is  freedom 
from  war.     Another  of  the  greatest  needs  of  the 


Queen  Victoria 


383 


CQ 


384  The  Hanoverian  Kings 

people  in  England  and  America  is  a  free  reign 
of  justice  among  those  who  labor  and  those  who 
employ  labor. 

Queen  Victoria  died  on  the  22nd  of  January, 
1901.  Mr.  Balfour,  who  was  then  leader  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  said  of  her  in  his  address  to 
the  House: 

^'Sir,  it  is  not  given,  it  cannot,  in  ordinary 
course,  be  given,  to  a  constitutional  monarch  to 
signalize  his  reign  by  any  great  isolated  action. 
The  effect  of  a  constitutional  sovereign,  great  as 
it  is,  is  produced  by  the  slow,  constant,  and  cumu- 
lative results  of  a  great  ideal  and  a  great  exam- 
ple; and  of  that  great  ideal  and  that  great  exam- 
ple Queen  Victoria  surely  was  the  first  of  all  con- 
stitutional monarchs  whom  the  world  has  yet 
seen.  Where  shall  we  find  that  ideal  so  lofty 
in  itself,  so  constantly  and  consistently  main- 
tained, through  two  generations,  through  more 
than  two  generations  of  her  subjects,  through 
many  generations  of  her  public  men  and  mem- 
bers of  this  House? 

'  ^Sir,  it  would  be  almost  impertinent  for  me  were 
I  to  attempt  to  express  to  the  House  in  words 
the  effect  which  the  character  of  our  late  sover- 
eign produced  upon  all  who  were  in  any  degree, 
however  remote,  brought  in  contact  with  her. 
The  simple  dignity,  befitting  a  monarch  of  this 
realm,  in  that  she  could  never  fail,  because  it 


Qiteen  Victoria 


385 


THE  HOUSE   OF  COMMONS   IN    1893. 

[Based  on  a  drawing,  by  Walter  Wilson,  of  Gladstone  addressing  the  House  of 

Commons,  published  by  the  London  News,  Feb.  18,  1893. 

By  permission  of  the  publishers.] 


386  Queen  Victoria 

arose  from  her  inherent  sense  of  the  fitness  of 
things.  It  was  no  trapping  put  on  for  office, 
and  therefore  it  was  this  dignity,  this  queenly 
dignity,  only  served  to  throw  into  stronger  relief 
and  into  a  brighter  light  those  admirable  virtues 
of  the  wife,  the  mother,  and  the  woman,  with 
which  she  was  so  richly  endowed.  ; 

^  Those  kindly  graces,  those  admirable  qualities, 
have  endeared  her  to  every  class  in  the  commu- 
nity, and  are  known  to  all.  Perhaps  less  known 
was  the  life  of  continuous  labor  which  her  posi- 
tion as  queen  threw  upon  her.  Short  as  was 
the  interval  between  the  last  trembling  signature 
affixed  to  a  public  document  and  final  rest,  it  was 
yet  long  enough  to  clog  and  hamper  the  wheels' 
of  administration ;  and  I  remember,  when  J  saw: 
a  vast  mass  of  untouched  documents  which 
awaited  the  hand  of  the  sovereign  of  this  coun- 
try to  deal  with,  it  was  brought  vividly  before  my 
mind  how  admirable  was  the  unostentatious  pa- 
tience with  which,  for  sixtj^-three  years,  through 
sorrow,  through  suffering,  in  moment^  of  weari- 
ness, in  moments  of  despondency,  it  may  be,  she- 
carried  on  without  intei mission  her  share' in  the; 
government  of  this  great  empire.  For  her  there' 
was  no  holiday,  to  her  there  was  no  intermission 
of  toil .  Domestic  sorrow,  domestic  sickness,  made 
no  difference  in  her  labors,  and  they  Were  con- 
tinued from   the  hour   at  whicih    she  became' 


The  Hanoverian  Kings 


387 


sovereign  to  within  a  very  few  days  of  her  death. 
It  is  easy  to  chronicle  the  growth  of  empire,  the 
progress  of  trade,  the  triumphs  of  war,  all  the 
events  that  make  history  interesting  or  exciting ; 
but  who  is  there  that  will  dare  to  weigh  in  the 
balance  the  effect  which  such  an  example,  con- 
tinued over  sixty-three  years,  has  produced  on 
the  highest  life  of  the  people?  It  is  a  great  life, 
and  had  a  fortunate,  and,  let  me  say,  in  my 
judgment,  a  happy  ending/' 

THE   END. 


INDEX. 


Absolute  Ruler 248 

Adams,  Samuel 345 

Agricola IS 

Alabama  Claims 379 

Albert,  Prince  Consort 377 

Alfred 37 

America,  Discovered 164 

Angles 23.  26,  27.  55 

Anglia 56 

Anglo  Saxon  Chronicle 48 

Anne  Boleyn 190 

Anne 331 

Arbitration 372,  380 

Army,  Beginning  of  Standing.  .  159 

Arkwright 366 

Assembly  of  Burgesses 259 

Austerlitz 349 

Bacon,  Francis 220,  234,  253 

Balfour,  James,  Estimate  of 

Victoria 384 

Bannockburn 145 

Barons 78 

Barter 120,  281 

Bede  49 

Bible.  Permitted  to  Read.  1 77,  234,240 
Bible,   King  James'  Translation.  255 

Bill  of  Rights 268 

Black  Death 146 

Blondel 112 

Blenheim 328 

Boadicea 16 

Boadicea,    Poem  of 24 

Book  of  Common  Prayer.  203,  234.274 

Boston 282 

Boston  Tea  Party 345 

Bosworth  Field 158 

Bribery  of  Members  of  Parliament  334 

Bright,  John 362 

Brindley 366 

Britops,  Army 12,13 

Bruce,  Robert 145 

Buckingham,  Duke  of 266,  288 

Bunyan,  John 305 

Burke,  Edmund 346 

Caedmon 49 

Caesar 11 

Calendar 236 

Calvinists 239 

Canals 366 

Canterbury  Tales 96. 161 


Canute 44 

Canute.  Laws  of 51 

Caractacus 16 

Cartwright 242 

Cartwright,  Dr 367 

Castra 18 

Catherine 186 

Catherine  de  Medici 176 

Caxton 149 

Cecil,  Lord  Burleigh 217 

Celtic  Race 6,  25 

Charlemagne 29 

Chamberlain 361 

Chaucer 161 

Christian  Religion,  Britons 21 

"         Anglo  Saxons 30 

"         Why  Important.  .  .,   30,  32 

Effect  of .      67 

Charles  1 264 

Charles  II  ... 301 

Church 92 

Church  of  England.  .  .  .    190,  194,  231 

Churls 44,56 

City  Schools 138 

Civil  Courts  E-stablished 65 

Civil  War 292 

Civil  War  in  America 378 

Claudius 16 

Cohort 13 

Coinage 198,  199 

Columbus 164 

Common  Law 6.  98 

Commonwealth 285.  298 

Congregationalists 283 

Congress,  First  American 262 

Constantino 21 

Coronation  Chair 144 

Council  of  the  Wise 48 

Court  of  Common  Pleas 131 

Court,  King's 98 

Court,  Star  Chamber 160,  268 

Crafts 167 

Cranmer 203,  207,  234 

Crecy,  Battle  of 148 

Crompton 366 

Cromwell,  Oliver 276,  285 

Cromwell,  Thomas 190 

Crusades 108 

Curfew  Law 69 

Crystal  Palace 378 

Danes 37 


389 


390 


Index 


.Defender  of  the  Faith 183 

Discoveries 365 

Divine  Right 247,  250,  256 

Domesday  Book 66 

Dooms  of  Alfred 50,  51 

Dover 12 

Drake,  Sir  Francis 223,  227 

Druids 20 

Duke  of  Marlborough 328,  331 

Duke  of  Somerset 202 

Earl  of  Chatham 338 

East  Anglia 29 

Ecclesiastical  Government 91 

Edward  the  Confessor 62 

Edward  1 143 

Edward  II 145 

Edward  III 146 

Edward  IV 149,  154 

Edward  VI 202 

Edward's  Journal 204 

Egbert 29 

Eldermen 44,  56 

Electric  Telegraph 376 

Elizabeth 212 

Eliot's  Resolutions 287 

EpiscopaUans 289 

Erasmus 175 

Essex 29 

Excalibur 22 

Exchequer 100 

Fairs 120 

Fairie  Queen 151,  233 

Feudalism 74, 156 

Flaxman 368 

Fox 317 

Franks 25 

French  and  Indian  War 262 

Fulton,  Robert 371 

Gauls ,     11 

Geoffrey,  Duke  of  Anjou 89 

George  1 332 

George  II 332 

George  III '.  .  .   340 

George  IV 375 

Germanic  Family 5,  25 

Gladstone. 360 

Godwin 45 

Government  at  Alfred's  Time.  .  .      46 
Government  through  Ministers.  .    325 

Great  Commoner 335 

Gregory  the  Great 30 

Guilds 167 

Gunpowder 147 

Guthrum 41 

Habeas  Corpus  Law 309 

Hague  Court  of  Arbitration 381 

Hampden,  John 271 

Hargreaves , . . 366 

Harold 45,  62 

Helena 21 

Hengist 28 

Henry  1 88,  89 

Henry  II 88,91 


Henry  III 128,  141 

Henry  V 356 

Henry  VII 153 

Henry  VIII 180 

Henry  of  Navarre 176 

Homage 74,  75 

Horsa 28 

House  of  Commons 143,  359 

House  of  Lords 143,  360 

Huguenots 176 

-Iceni 17 

Idylls  of  the  King 22 

Imprisonment,  for  Debt 134 

Invasion,  Caesar 12,  15 

Invasion,  Saxons 22,  2? 

Invasion,  Hengist  and  Horsa.  .  .      28 

Invasion,  Northmen 35 

Inventions 365 

Invincible  Armada 221 

Ironsides 293 

Jackson,  Andrew 374 

James  1 245 

James  II 310 

Jamestown 258 

Joan  of  Arc 149 

John 123 

"John  Halifax  Gentleman" 7  335 

Johnson,  Dr 337 

Jury 47,99 

Jury  of  his  Peers 132 

Jutes 26,  27,  55 

Kent 29 

"King's  Friends" 341 

Knights 78 

Language,  Twelfth  Century 69 

Latimer 207 

Laud,  Archbishop 266 

Leopold,  Duke  of  Austria 110 

Liverpool 366 

London 17 

London,  Great  Fire 304 

Louis  XIV 322 

Long  Parliament 274,  290 

Long  Ships , .  .  .  35 

Loom,  Hand 117 

lioom,  Power 367 

Luther,  Martin 157,  172 

Mabie,    Hamilton  Wright,   Esti- 
mate of  Norsemen 54 

Magna  Charta 125 

Manchester 366 

Manor-house 83,  101 

Mantes 71 

Manufacturers 197 

Markets 168 

Marlborough,  Duke  of 328,  331 

Martyrs 208 

Mary 205 

Maryland 280 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots 228 

Massachusetts  Bay  Company.  .  .    282 
Massacre  at  Jamestown 259 


Index 


391 


Massacre  at  Schenectady 262 

Matilda,  Daughter  of  Henry  I .  .  .     89 

Middle  Angha 29 

Money 198 

Monk,  General 301 

Montfort,  Simon  de 130,  142,  353 

More,  Sir  Thomas 185,  192,  233 

Morley,  John 360 

l^apoleon 349,  373 

Na.^eby,  Battle  of 293 

Nero 17 

New  England 279 

New  Forest 69 

New  Learning 201 

New  Model 293 

New  Netherlands 258,  314 

New  Orleans 374 

New  York .........:  314 

Norse  Mythology 36 

Northmen 35 

North-Umbria 29 

Oath  of  Knight .' .  .    107 

Old    Dominion 261 

Old  Style  and  New.  Style 235 

Otho,  Bishop .      72 

Oxford 184 

Paradise  Lost 305 

Parish  Hundred 46 

Parker,  Bishop 218 

ParUament 97,  142,  350 

Parliament,  Story  of 352 

Parliament,  Reform  of 360,  376 

Parliament,  Quorum 364 

Penance   95 

Penn,  William 317 

Pennsylvania 317 

Peter  the  Hermit 108 

Philadelphia 318 

Philip,  King  of  France 110 

Philip  of  Spain 206 

Picts 21 

Pilgrim  Fathers 251,  265,  279 

Pilgrim's  Progress 305 

Pitt,  William 335 

Pitt  the  Younger.  . 348 

Plague,  the  Great 304 

Plantagenet 90 

Plymouth 251 

Pocket  Borough 234 

Pole 209 

Pottery 368 

Presbyterians 239 

Preston 295 

Prices  Regulated 166 

Pride's  Purge 296 

Prince  of  Orange 321 

Prince  Rupert 294 

Printing  Press 149 

Prisoner  for  Debt 134 

Privilege 356,  272 

Privileges 168 

Protector  of  the  Commonwealth.  298 
Puritanism 231,  239 


Quakers 283,  317 

Railroads 370 

Reform  Bill 360 

Reformation 176 

Rent 167 

Richard  1 107 

Richard  III 150 

Ridley,  Bishop 207 

Roads 18,  199,  369 

Rocket 370 

Rolf,  the  Ganger 60 

Roman  Legion 13 

Roman  Road 18 

Roman  Wall 15 

Rotten  Borough 334 

Roundheads .........:...   293 

Runnymede 127 

St.  Augustine 30 

St.  Bartholomew 176 

Saladin 112 

ga^jj 28 

Saxons". '. '. '. '. '.  *. '. '. '. '. ".  *.  *.  *  23,  26,  27,  55 

Schenectady,  Massacre 262 

Serfs 44 

Service  Rent 86 

Shakespeare 220,  234 

Shakespeare,  Prophecy  of  Eliza- 
beth    232 

Ship  Money 270 

Simnel 162 

Shire  Council 48 

Simon  de  Montfort 130,  142,  353 

Slaves 78,  259 

Slavs , 25 

Smith,  Adam 368 

Smith,  John 258 

Spenser,  Edmund 151,  227,  233 

Spinning  Jennie 366 

Soetre 26 

Sports 105,  139 

Stafford,  Lord 291 

Stamp  Act 342 

Star  Chamber 160 

Steam  Boat 371 

Steam  Engine 367 

Stephen,  King 97 

Stephenson,  George 370 

Stonehenge 20 

Stuyvesant,  Peter 314 

Suetonius 15 

Sussex 29 

Tacitus 7 

Talisman,  The 113 

Taxation  without  Representation  343 

Taxes 167 

Tea  Tax 345 

Telegraph 376 

Tenants 82 

Teutonic  Race 5,  25 

Thanet 27 

Thomas  A'Becket 92 

Thor 26 

Thorough  Motto 288 

Thralls 56,  78 


392 


Index 


Tiw 26 

Tories 324 

Trades,  Beginning  of 117 

Trade 333 

Transportation 199 

Trencher 103 

Tudor  Family 157 

Tunnage  and  Poundage 267 

Tyrconnel 326 

Union   of    English    and   Scottish 

Parliaments 332 

Utopia 223 

Victoria,  Queen 375 

Villeins 59,  75,  78,  83 

Virginia 258 

Wages 170 

Wallace,  William 144 

Walpole 332 

Walter,  Archbishop  Herbert.  .  .  .  114 

Warbeck 163 

War  of  1812 374 

Wars  of  the  Roses 149 

Warwick 162 


Washington,  George 247 

Waterloo 349 

Watt,  James 367 

Wealth  of  Nations 369 

Wedgewood 368 

Wellington,  Duke  of 349 

Wentworth,  Thomas 288 

Wentworth,  Trial  of 291 

Wessex 29 

Whigs 324 

William  and  Mary 311 

William  III 320 

William  IV 375 

William,  Duke  of  Normandy. ...  61 

William  the  Conqueror 63 

William  Rufus 124 

Williams,  Roger 283 

Wine,  Imported 103 

Witan 68 

Woden 26 

Wolsey 181 

Workman,  Classes  of 166 

World's  Fair 377 

Wyatt,  Sir  Thomas 206 

Yeoman  of  the  Guard 159 

Young,  Arthur 368 


